naruto: prince of hell
by that dude you know
Summary: Because of neglect naruto goes out to seek his own story away from konoha on the way he will meet new friends and make his own legend. Similarities in the beginning to God of illusion host of the devils arm by thanathos but several key differences. Rated M for freedom
1. so it begins

**hello this is my first story it's a naruto gets neglected by family fix so get ready for lots of angst also please forgive me if it's not up to standard**

**I do not own naruto I am merely using the basic mechanics and a few charecters please support the official release.**

**Ch.1 the beginning**

panic

Sheer utter panic was going throughout the quite knight of konoha as a tenth of the village seemed to be engulfed by hell itself. Fighting was rampant as well as death. What they where fighting was a monstrosity the likes of which they could not be prepared for bared down upon them. Natural disasters and hate given beastial form the kyuubi no yoko strongest of the great biju.

It was hell as the beast tore them to shreds whith but flicks of its tails. "Damn we're getting killed out here" the beast sends out another blast of chakra taking the form of flames as it engulfs more buildings. Luckily devoid of civilians. "quickly get the wounded out of their we have to hold out till yondaime-sama can get here" that was the only thing keeping their hopes up. Hope that their leader will pull through and find a way to stop this beast.

'My God we can't take much more of this hurry minato we need you' those were the thoughts of one elderly shinobi by the name of sarutobi hiruzen former hokage as he helped his village hold off the beast.

**hokage ****tower**

the youthful visage of minato namikaze was etched in a scowl holding his contempt and saddnes at the current situation they only received word a few ours ago of the biju coming to attack them and what little defense they could set up was crushed by the beast. Now a tenth of their village lie in ruins and his shinobi where being killed.

Minato knew their was only one way to stop the beast a sealing. That was what he needed to do but it was easier said than done for instance the only seal powerful enough to seal the beast was deadly. shiki fuin the reaper death seal. By using it you summon death itself to help create a powerful seal. The costs ones life and soul so he would not be surviving this plan.

The their is the container a newborn child and only two where being born at this time. His. He was having twins a boy and a girl. His wife was currently in labor and would soon bring to this world his children naruto and natsumi. He really really hated being in his position right now he would subject one of his children through the life of a jinchuriki. A truly arduous life filled whith conflict. The heavy heart he bore even knowing he had no choice was almost to much for him to bear.

If he wasn't going to die his wife would surely rectify that.

"HOKAGE-SAMA"

He looked towards his office door to see a man toss it open a doctor out of breath unable to get the words out of what he had to say.

He didn't have to.

His children where born.

It was time.

**hospital**

kushina namikaze looked down smiling at the two bundles in her arms on her right little naruto the spitting image of his father even in infancy whith blond locks strewn about his little head the thing that he had of hers though was her beautiful amethyst eyes that practically glowed like the actual stones from what little glimpses she was able to get from them during his short life.

On her left was little natsumi whereas naruto looked so much like his father natsumi took after her mother. Whith little tufts of red hair and from what she'd seen quite a bit of energy from how long it took her to go to sleep. Like naruto the little difference lie in the eyes she had a beautiful Herculean shade of blue eyes much like her father.

The two babies stirred uneasily she could tell why the kyubi's malice could even be felt from here. "Shhhhh it's alright little one's mommy's here she'll protect you she won't let anything happen to you my little angels" the babies settles down soothed by the voice and ambient love of their mother. Despite seeming calm and joyful kushina was anything but in this situation she was fearful their home was under assault by a monster that was the epitome of chaos itself. Kushina was a powerful ninja in her own right she had earned her epitaph (not the one she had as a child) as the red death throughout her ninja career. But even she an A-rank bordering on S-rank ninja wouldn't want any part in fighting such a powerful creature. She only prayed her husband would find a way to stop the crisis.

The door opened and in came a figure that was a sight for her sore eyes. Wearing his own fragile smile just as she knew she was wearing was her husband "minato" he came up beside her all the while his eyes reflected affection for her and their children. "Aren't they beautiful" said kushina "their perfect" was the loving and reply of her husband. They then spent a few moments just watching as the children slept to them it was a fleeting vision of perfection that made them feel fulfilled. But minato knew he would have to ruin this moment of peace for the sake of his home.

"Kushina" said woman looked at her husband hearing the pain in his voice "I'm going to have to use that seal, I'm going to have to use the shiki fuin to seal the Fox" as response his wife could only gasp after she got a hold of herself she said "no... I will not have you use our babies for that never"! Minato sighed he knew this was going to happen despite them both being master's of fuinjutsu therefore easily able to figure out what must be done his wife would deny the necessity of making a jinchuriki. She always was the hopeful and dreaming one out of of the two of them while he took up the job of the realist.

"We have no choice nothing else can stop it we have to do this for the sake of the village and our children" his wife's answer came out in a choked out sob " then *sob* why do you have to die" she looked up whith a tear stained face "why do our babies have to grow up without a father" Minato himself had to hold in his own tears as he answered his wife's quistion " because it is my duty as hokage" kushina lowered her head in resignation minato then took his daughter and said a parting word to his wife and son "kushina I love you naruto you be good and take care of your mother and sister for me will you" he then proceeded to walk out of the room, normally he would hiraishin away but it just didn't feel right just before he left he heard in a resigned quite voice shaking say " I love you to minato" he looked back to see his wife giving him a pained yet true smile as if saying 'I understand and goodbye' he wanted to say goodbye a final parting to his wife but something said it wasn't right so he left while saying

"Forgive Me"

And then he flashed away leaving a sobbing wife and mother clutching her baby son.

**battlefield**

"Hold it off" was the cry of the shinobi as they faught the mighty Fox they had managed to get it back to the edge of the village thanks in no small part to their previous third hokage showing their was a reason he was hailed as the second shinobi no kami.

suddenly a great pillar of smoke was seen on the battlefield and the figure of the mighty gamabunta the chief toad attacked the kyuubi pushing it back even more."yondaime-sama is here" was now the cheer from the happiness in the call you would think the battle was over. Sarutobi held no such delusions he knew what was happening the bundle in minatos arms only solidified his belief. He knew he was still needed, he only hoped his wife biwako would forgive him for what he had planned. "Kakashi" he called over a young boy in his teens whith white hair matted with sweat from fighting. He would have to do he looked the freshest out of them all right now due to being ordered to stay mostly at the back because his age. "Come" was his only order and the boy complied following him to where they could see gamabunta holding off the ninetails.

"Forgive me natsumi" was the uttering of minato as he set up the sealing alter not far from where gamabunta was fighting the ninetails to give him time. "Minato!" He turned around to see his predecessor and his last remaining student. "So it is as I feared your going to use it" a stiff nod was all the answer he needed and recieved "please minato don't do this let me take your place I know this seal as well. You have a wife and children to look after and the village needs you!" "I'm sorry sarutobi-sama but this is my duty I cannot as hokage let anyone else take this burden." "I see" was the only response the elderly man gave as his successor turned his back on him. "...sensei" kakashi lowered his head in sorrow feeling he was going to lose yet another important person.

Just then a tremor and a roar went of from the battle of titans not to far from where they where making kakashi look up to see the sandaime knock-out his teacher. "Sandaime-sama" he shouted in shock but then braced himself to catch his senseis unconscious form.

"Kakashi keep him safe while I finish this" Kalahari couldn't say thing in return shocked and saddened knowing what those words truly meant. " Kakashi tell my wife and children im sorry" the young man could only nod even though the much older man couldn't see him as his back was to him going to the alter.

Then his staff that he carried whith him was engulfed in smoke and from it came enma the monkey king "so I guess this is goodbye old friend" a nod was his answer "it has been an honor hiruzen goodbye and good luck" with that he stayed their as hiruzen went on opting to stay till his friends dying breath.

As he went he was doing the handshakes necessary to summon the shinigami suddenly he started speaking as if to no one "so it is your duty as hokage than it is mine as well for I to am a hokage!" he finished his seals standing still in front of the alter with the sleeping babe hands held in the final handseal.

"And this is my will of fire shiki fuin"

Whith that the God of death was summoned. It came about like a monstrous apparition behind sarutobi. It stuck its pale hand through sarutobi and attached to the kyuubi. Not a moment too soon as gamabunta vanished. The kyuubi roared but then oddly enough calmed down and after seemingly taking a moment to understand its situation and then accepted it as if it had an choice in the matter.

fuin

whith that cry a greet flash of light happened and when it cleared the Fox was gone the child had a seal on its stomach as it cried being woken up and a great man lye still.

Enma gave a pained sigh letting a single tear fall before he disappeared back to his world to morn.

Minato namikaze began to stir as he was being held up by his student just in time to see enma dissapeare. He saw sarutobi's innovating body and the absence of the kyuubi he put two and two together and jolted from where he was being supported "sensei" the words fell on deaf ears as he rushed to the two forms he saw that deed was done and could not do anything he picked up his daughter and looked down at the still form at his feet.

"Thank you"

Was his somber whisper to the man that saved his life.

**hospital**

kushina namikaze saw the end to the fighting and realized what that must of meant as was evidence of her crying. Just then the door to her room opened up and she saw someone she did not think she would see in the land of the living her husband holding there daughter in his arms.

Her crying had stopped as he walked up to her neither doing anything as they looked awkwardly at each other neither knowing what to do till.

Kushina lunged and engulfed her husband and other child in her arms holding their children between them as they both cured tears of joy.

Their family was not destroyed.

Later a village meeting was called early in the morning minato stood holding his daughter with kushina a little ways back holding naruto.

"Good people of leaf I know you all are in pain now with the loss of so many and the destruction brought about by the kyuubi but please do not saddened we have survived thanks to the sacrifices of so many and we have made it to a new day and we can rebuild what was lost." At this the people perked up due to the conviction of minatos voice just one of his many skills as a leader. "In fact I hold here in my hand a hero along whith the help of our late sandaime hokage who gave his life to stop the kyuubi the child in my arms is responsible for stopping the kyuubi" here the people looked up in curiosity their saddness and depression all but lost in the new revalation. "I present to you my daughter namikaze natsumi the container of the minerals". Here people whispered in confusion wondering what to make of this "please know that she is not the beast but rather a prison so the beast may never harm us again she is a hero." With that the people had all the evidence they needed and cheered all doubts erased in the applause and shoots for their leader and new hero.

Minato looked back to his wife and son with a beaming smile one s readily returned.

**later that knight at the namikaze house**

after the speech minato went to assign gaurd duty to a few returning shinobi that came back from abroad doing missions and such and issuing that all shinobi that took part in the kyubi attack can go home while others work on healing the wounded and setting up security. All the while kushina went and got the twins checked out at the hospital to see they where in proper health.

After that they returned home to relax and enjoy how they all survived it was currently nighttime and kushina put the twins to bed. She noticed how natsumi clutched onto her brother and she found it utterly adorable. She then noticed how naruto was squirming and whimpering as if uncomfortable natsumi May have been holding him to tight or maybe he was just a baby that tossed around in his sleep probably nothing how wrong she was

Then she felt a pair of arms encircle her and saw her husband behind her looking down lovingly at their children it was a perfect family scene.

Everything was going to be alright now.

But in my own words life's a bitch if it isn't your doing it wrong.

**end**

**thanks for reading this is my first fix**

**if you haven't noticed yet this story is going to have a lot of similarities in the beginning to God of illusion, host of the devils arm by thanathos it was a wonderful story I loved it mines going to have several key differences and the longer it goes on the more different it will become.**

**Thanks dudes**


	2. ch2 sibling strife

**hello everyone just want to say sorry if my grammar or spelling is bad I have autocorrect and it hates me, and I also have my own problems like their there they're never got that heh.**

**Also the beginning chapters of this story is basically thanathos's story God of illusion, host of the devils arm.**

**So it isn't going to be that long reason being I don't have that much passion in writing these first few chapters because like I said their someone else's your going to have to wait awhile before it gets a little more lengthy per chapter.**

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO I am merely using the world and character's please support the official release.**

**ch.2 sibling strife**

It had been several years since the kyuubi attack and the leaf village was almost back to its normal self. Their was still the pain of loss for all those that had died. Not only that but also the economical damage due to the destroyed shops and homes. Also costs of repairing the village were lofty they don't call the kyuubi an incarnation of destruction for nothing. Them there was the problem of the leftover kyuubi chakra that plagued a sector of the village. It just stayed their well until someone got to close the area thus was quarantined for people's safety.

But we're getting of topic.

Since the kyuubi attack the namikaze family could not be happier. They were living the dream life. A family with two wonderful children and two loving parents.

The children had grown in the last four years. No longer the fragile little babes they once were no now they were little children with they're own looks and personalities. For the case of natsumi she was a little clone of her mother with long straight red hair and a round face, though with her father's eyes. And a personality much like her mother's hyper, adventurous and happy she even had the tomboyish nature down pat. She was everyone's little darling and she was also loved for being the hero of the hidden leaf.

Then there was naruto he was quite different from his sister. First his looks wereas natsumi was a little clone of their mother he looked just like their father. He had blonde sunkissed hair that was spiky just not as spiky as his father's. He also had a fair face some would even say feminine. And his eyes unlike his sister's sky blue his were a beautiful shade of violet, the eye color the uzumaki were known for. And his personality was just as diverse while his sister was hyper and jumpy he was calm cool and collected, not to mention a little shy. He was also very perceptive as well as smart for his age able to understand things beyond his years.

All in all two little angels in their parents eyes.

* * *

Naruto knew there was something different between him and his sister. Beyond the fact that she was a girl while he was a boy their personalities and looks, no those were far below the notice of a four year nothing to cause alarm. Like for instance his sister was naturally more physically fit than him she was stronger faster and had more stamina than was justifiable for a girl or boy of their age. Then their was sickness his sister never got sick he got sick every once in a while, though not as much as normal children his age due to his uzumaki heritage but his sister no runny noses or high fevers in sight. Also they're healing rate he healed quicker than normal thanks once again to his increased vitality due to his uzumaki heritage but his sister you didn't need to be smart like naruto to know that was abnormal cuts and scrapes do not heal in a few minutes just a fact pertaining to her abnormalities. Though when it came to their pain threshold he had the lions share while his sister was a drama queen he just sucked it up. Those facts alone would Enough to defend his case but that wasn't all oh no not at all.

It was the. way they were treated he first noticed when there family went out on a family outing a simple walk to explore the village and take in the ambient energy of the sweet outdoors. Normally when naruto would go out people would be nice to him smile say hello, who wouldn't to an adorable four year old.

But how they reacted to his sister was a different matter entirely the swarmed her like a celebrity. They were practically mobbing her just to get a look as if they had to catch at least one glimpse of her just for the sake of seeing her. But then again she was the 'hero' of konoha so it was to be expected to some degree but naruto just didn't expect this much.

Yes he knew of the kyuubi their parents told them not to long ago for the sake of making sure they were not misinformed or got the wrong idea. They pressed the fact that natsumi was not the beast nor was she in any danger or a danger to herself and those around her. She was in fact the prison that holds the Fox at bay and no less human than anyone else. She was in fact a hero for this.

There were a number of questions like for instance why was it her that was chosen. The reason was they needed a newborn baby and not just any newborn baby a girl. The reason was the kyuubi no yoko was in fact female at least that was what little intelligence on the beast said about it. History showed that sealing a biju into a container of opposing genders was bad really bad. An example they gave them to answer why ended with a raging two tails released a dead jinchuriki and a tenth of kumo destroyed so needless to say they understood.

Naruto being the smart understanding boy he was understood quickly and agreed with his parents on the matter. He also was able to figure out that the Fox was the reason to the aforementioned physical enhancements his sister had. Though he couldn't see why she was proclaimed as a hero. So she's got a monster sealed in her big whoop its not like natsumi did anything but be there. Don't get him wrong he found Justus and other ninja abilities cool and fascinating he even hoped to be one one day. It's just when you live in a NINJA village and your parents are two of its most celebrated and powerful shinobi the shock value sorta decreases to were you'll have to forgive him if he's not bouncing off the walls or in shocked silence like his sister under such a revalalation.

While naruto was staring at his sister with curiosity as she was swamped by her adoring fans one particularly overzealous fan came up behind him and, not noticing him in his rush to see the savior of konoha bumped into the poor boy. This resulted in naruto falling down and unfortunately face first into a puddle of mud from yesterday's rain, truly the universe can be a bit of an ass in its horrible coincidences (as you'll find out in the story).

Minato then looked away from his daughter and her fan club to look at his son to find he wasn't there anymore instead he was on the ground with his face covered in mud from the puddle he just vacated. He hurried and helped his son up naruto then proceeded to get the mud away from his eyes while trying to hold in his tears. That was another factor of narutos personality he always tried to act mature despite the situation, even though no one could fault him for not acting mature due to his age. seeing his sons state had his protective father persona take over and due to his ninja memory (they have that you know) knew who exactly it was that tripped his son. So walking right up to the man, who had his back turned to him while trying to get a glimpse of his daughter, he grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and mad him face him.

"Hey buddy what the hell do you think..." he immediately clammed up once he saw who he was addressing (one does not simply talk smack to the hokage). "Oh h-hokage-sama good evening. W-what can I do for you" the man was obviously intimidated as well as hoping the hokage didn't catch his slip of the tongue when rudely addressing him.

"Well for starters you can apologise to my son for knocking him down" with that he mad a pointing gesture to said boy who finally got the Mud around his eyes off.

"Oh I-I'm so v-very s-sorry. P-please forgive me for my rude actions" at the end he was bowing at a ninety-degree angle and apologising profusely to both father and son, it actually surprised him with how fast the man was bowing civilians shouldn't be able to kiss ass at such speeds.

The man's rapid speed apologies managed to draw the attention of kushina and natsumi, kushina being next to natsumi to make sure no one harmed her or do anything the shouldn't. At first kushina was worried seeing her son with mud all over his face. But then natsumi pointed and laughed, not out of malice or to cause naruto discomfort. It's just well whith his face being covered in mud except for the area around his eyes he looked like a raccoon. To her that was just so FUNNY.

At first naruto was a bit confused and hurt that his sister would poke fun at him in his state. But then he caught his reflection in a store window they happened to be passing at the time and saw why. He did in fact look like a raccoon and it was indeed funny. So he began to laugh as well along with his sister happy that this turned from embarrassing to a funny situation.

Kushina could just look on with a smile happy that the situation turned around. She then took out a handkerchief dabbled it on her tongue for spit and scrubbed narutos face clean with a little elbow grease (as mothers often do, seriously try to find someone who's mother didn't do this at least once to them you'll come up empty).minato as well was smiling happy at how things turned out. So kushina went to take the children home to get cleaned up and minato went to go get some groceries for dinner.

* * *

**Back at the namikaze house**

currently the whole family was gathered at the table enjoying the dinner that kushina made for them it was the families favorite food RAMEN (could I really be anything else this anime is famous for RAMEN). Now when you think eating you can't imagine what the namikaze family was doing right then. More like devouring no slaughtering the ramen to ramen itself it was a bloodbath. Safe to say the namikaze family was addicted to ramen. Minato and kushina were eating very quickly but with proper manners to were it wasn't sloppy. Now natsumi she was eating it like her last meal if ramen was an animal she would be what you'd call the ultimate predator.

Now naruto was yet again different from the norm in the family while the others had already devoured several bowls worth of ramen he was on his first partly because he was savoring it and also because out of the two twins naruto had more etiquette. When lessons came for manners and how to act proper naruto properly took to them wereas natsumi had the lessons go in one ear...and right out the other. Naruto was just the learning type while natsumi only really took an effort to learn what she wanted to and that was being a ninja and only then and if she was learning the cool parts like jutsu or straight up fighting.

"Mom can I have some mo..." he never got to finish his request for more food because his voice was eclipsed by his loudmouth sister.

"MOM MORE RAMEN. Kushina could only sigh at her daughter's outburst. "Now young lady what have I told you about yelling" she scolded in a manner that really gel no force to it just a reminder as she poured her daughter a refill."to not to" was the peppy reply of her smiling daughter hey she could smile through a hurricane if she had RAMEN an easy task to do in the face of her mother's soft reprimands. "Hmph looks like that's it oh well" kushina said this in a sullen manner let it be known the namikaze family hated few things above running out of ramen. "Sorry sweety what were you saying".

"Nothing" was all the reply she got before naruto got up put his bowl in the sink and left for his room to study. 'Its not fair natsumi interrupts me and yells and she gets ramen. If I were to do that I would get punished but she gets ramen for doing it that's just unfair' we're the boys thoughts as he ascended the stairs to his room.

Alas young naruto just felt a small taste of the curse of being a soft spoken child in a family full of charismatic/energetic people. Unfortunately this was not the final time he will feel the sting of such a thing nor would it be the worst.

For it truly was a curse.

* * *

**the next morning**

Naruto awoke to the bright sunny morning thinking one thing... he felt like complete and utter crap. No way of sugarcoating it no beating around the Bush no denial he felt completely and totally like crap. His skin felt like it was being assaulted by pins and needles, and not the fuzzy kind no the it stings like all hell kind was the kind he had the pleasure of dealing with his eyes felt irritated his throat felt dry and that was only the external pain. His muscles felt like they were on fire and they felt so oh so very worn. His bones he could literally feel as they screened and not only that they felt as if they came under an episode of unexplainable brittleness. And the icing on the cake his pain receptors felt like they were on caffeine. So you'll have to believe me when I say he felt like crap.

Then their was that weight on his chest that didn't make matters better. Believe it or not naruto was no stranger to this the reason being he knew what that weight was it was in fact the culprit of his current condition his sister natsumi. There she lay on his chest sleeping while he was in pain truly a kick in the nuts. He then felt a presence in the door to his room he looked and saw his parents staring at him and his sister looks of adoration plastered to their faces at the no doubt adorable and heartwarming sight displayed in front of the.

Just then natsumi stirred and after wiping the sleep from her eyes and realizing the situation she was in bolted out the door and down the hall to her room clearly embarrassed.

"Mom can't you tell her to stop it" naruto said in a hoarse tone due to his dry throat and the state of his pain racked body.

"Why it's adorable. I wish I had siblings that did that with me when I was little I have to say I'm even jealous." Kushina stated this without knowing the pain her son was enduring otherwise she'd speak with a different tune.

"Because it hurts it really does every time she sleeps with me I wake up felling awful" this was the truthful reply from naruto but to his parents it wasn't. This wasn't the first time this happened and kushina being the caring mother she is took her son to see a doctor the first few times. They reported nothing out of the ordinary except once when he had a cold by coincidence.

"Naruto I know you may think it makes you look less manly but that's no reason to lie and worry us by saying it hurts you" kushina said this in a stern manner fully believing her son was lying due to a simple dislike of his sister's sleeping habits.

"Mom im not lying it really does hurt" naruto said this in an exasperated manner what did he care about looking manly all he cared about was the fact that his insides were jelly and his outsides were following in their footsteps.

"Enough young man you know how I feel about lying" it was a rule in the namikaze house lying was not tolerated the family upheld honesty and the parents wanted to make sure their children knew that as well. Hence " naruto as punishment your weeding the garden us that time to think about lying and what happens when you do" kushina felt it wasn't much of a punishment naruto enjoyed garden just like reading but he needed to learn not to lie.

If only she knew the truth.

Naruto was shocked he told the truth he was in pain his body was aching and his pain receptors were having a field day. Sure the doctors said their was nothing wrong with him well the pain racking his body said differently unless their was something wrong with his brain because he apparently didn't know what pain was.

Nevertheless he got up to go do the chore assigned to him he didn't really mind after all he enjoyed gardening no what ticked him of was the fact that this was a 'punishment' that's what made it a tedious and an unwanted task. He then left his room walking past a rather smug looking natsumi as if she enjoyed watching her brother punished while she was the good child. Naruto truly was annoyed at his sister at this point he could believe her at fault and to blame at his current predicament and no one could really fault his line of thinking but naruto was set on being mature it will pass no need to get angry or have a temper tantrum no need to believe the universe set him up with the short straw when it came to coincidences and troublesome situations (at this a few naras sneezed) no it will pass.

If only he knew how wrong he was.

He then spent the morning toiling in the garden the ground was moist and muddy due to raining the previous night and it was cold due to the high moisture in the air once again due to the rain. Naruto immersed himself in work trying to forget his thought of the unfairness of the situation. He would work and finish this task no matter how unfair or hard it was. The reason it was hard was because his body was still weak and in pain from his sister's seemingly toxic touch and unbeknownst to him his nervous system was also weakend from the affair not even the uzumaki vitality he had could properly protect him from the viruses that lay in the cold the dirt and water as he worked not knowing of what would happen.

He was kept in bed the next few days due to a fever he caught while working in the garden. (Yep life's a bitch and he's her favorite)

* * *

**two days later**

today naruto forgot all about his problems and the problems he had been having with his family and especially his sister due to her boisterous nature and his sickness it was even harder to get a word out and frankly it was annoying naruto to no today he was going to be happy and have fun despite still suffering from his fever, the reason why?

It was his and his sister's birthday. That's right five years ago today the great kyuubi no yoko came and wreaked havoc on their village be for it was stopped by the efforts of konoha shinobi and the sandaime and yondaime hokages. To many this was a time to celebrate as well as mourn for today was a day of great tragedy as well as great victory. Many mourned and brought flowers to the graves of the fallen as well as the memorial stone. And many paid homage to the departed sandaime most of all his family and widowed wife biwako mourned, biwako though spent most of her time in the hospital today, being the most skilled medic since tsunade left common known was that her skill as a medic was only outdone by her once student (for she helped train the slug scanning in the medical arts hiruzen knew nothing of medical skills so someone had to teach her). Yes she stayed there and just relaxed and helped out with the constant streams of people admitted for partying to hard (PARTY!).

Then their were the festivities for celebration. Their we're a variety of game booths in which you could various prizes. Food stalls with a literal plethora of junk food sweets and dishes that would make even the akimichi full whith the sheer variety and quantity. Then their were decorations merrymaking and everyone having a good time. And then the icing on the cake at midnight the exact time the nine tails was defeated (coincidently) they let of a beautiful array of fireworks in celebration of the victory of the leaf village over the seemingly indomitable beast of nature. Yep an awesome festival if ever their was one. And like I said it was naruto and natsumi's birthday today.

At the namikaze house the party was in full swing, normally they would visit the clan compounds Visiting all of minato and kushina friends that where the clan heads as well as their children that were naruto and natsumi's age. Then they would go to the festival let the children enjoy the festivities while they enjoyed the sweet sweet sector of alcohol which was truly necessary when dealing whith a bunch of hyper kids. Then they would the end the night by watching the fireworks yep perfect plan for a birthday. But due to narutos illness they had to compromise instead having everyone come to the namikaze house so as to not tire naruto out so he Would be able to go enjoy the festival after the official birthday party.

Naruto was currently having the most fun he'd had all week what with his fever and the series of unfortunate coincidences (thought I was gonna say events didn'tcha) that had been happening to him. The children were all having fun under the watchful eyes of the parents talking and playing and happily enough he wasn't having any problems of the natsumi nature so he was currently in a good mood.

Just then it was time for presents their was a difference in the quantity of their presents since almost everyone wanted to congratulate natsumi on her birthday and give her a present but naruto didn't really care (and their was no way in hell natsumi was complaining) he was content with what he got, a bag of sweets a few beginner ninja books as well as books on other useful things like survival cooking gardening etc. He also received art supplies much to his enjoyment he had always wanted to explore his artistic side, not to mention a coupon book for ichiraku which to a namikaze was as thoughtful a gift you could give. But the best gift he received was a ninja pouch with a set of blunted shuriken and kunai and a wooden boken from both his parents as he would be starting his ninja training along with his sister after his birthday.

After that they all enjoyed the birthday cake. Naruto was allowed to cut it ( don't see why kids got a cold are they not worried about germs or something) he gave his sister an extra large with cherries her favorite the reason he gave her a big piece was he was just a nice person like that. After cake they kicked the little basta... I mean little angels into the backyard so the adults could get some free time from the energetic horror that was children.

The kids however were more than happy to go especially having the sugar from the cake fueling their systems. Bastion then proceeded to get all of their attention by clapping and then proceeded to speak "I just wanna say thanks for coming" the kids answered with proclamations of welcome and cheers but natsumi held her hands up a gesture that said she had more to say. "Wait wait I'm not done I also want to say because naruto-nii said something mean about me so I won't play with anyone who plays with him." She finished of with a huff emphasizing her seriousness on the matter.

The children were startled or at the very least confused what did natsumi's brother say that was so bad that she was making such a condition to follow. In their childlike minds though it was a simple decision natsumi being energetic and peppy was whithout a doubt more fun to play with rather than her shy introvert brother. Also more than a few of the children were told by their parents to make nice with natsumi due to her importance or because of her hero status so really in their simple childish line of reasoning their really was only one choice in the matter. So one by one they all crossed over the invisible line and chose natsumi by walking over to her some being decent enough to send apologetic or sheepish glances at the lone blond boy but the majority of them thought if naruto was being a bully to natsumi then he deserved this punishment, oh if they could only understand the hypocrisy in their line of thought they would realise how truly cruel this was. Massimo she just stood their sending her brother a victoriously smug smirk and waiting for everyone to gather around her once they did she smiled at them and with a shout led them to go play "alright everyone lets go play."

All the while naruto could only gape in astonishment at the cruel actions his sister had just taken against him. He knew exactly what she ment when she said he said something mean about me she was referring to his comments about her sleeping in his room with him he wasn't being mean he was merely stating a fact it hurt him why would no one believe him? He still couldn't believe his sister did that though even if she took offense to what he said this was just to cruel. The rest party was spent with naruto trying to reconnect with the other children only to be rebuffed he even went to apologise to his sister but his apologies fell on deaf ears even if she listened she probably wouldn't accept his apologies seeming to take joy out of hurting her brother in retaliation to his minor transgression.

After naruto saw their was no use he simply sat and stared into the pond in the back yard till the parents called the children in to go enjoy the festival when minato and kushina called in naruto and natsumi naruto stated he didn't feel well and opted to go upstairs to bed minato and kushina looked on worriedly but nevertheless accepted the excuse to not go while natsumi simply didn't care her brother was at the bottom of the list of things she cared about at the moment.

That night while the rest of the namikaze family enjoyed the festivities and watched the fireworks and generally had a good time poor little naruto was crying himself to sleep due to the cruelty of how he was treated by his fellow children.

* * *

**some days later at the namikaze house**

naruto was at this moment enjoying himself as he was immersed into drawing a picture of his family using the art supplies he received on his fifth birthday. He really enjoyed drawing as he found out making a few doodles after his birthday. This particular drawing he had been spending awhile making it showed on the left his sister then his mother next to her was his father and finally him they were all holding hands in the portrait and they all had smiles it was very far from a masterpiece but it was very good for a young five year old (*sniff* I wish I could draw *sniff* * sob*) and s nearly completed just then he heard a growling meow coming from outside so he set down his coloring supplies and went out to investigate.

After leaving through the front door naruto saw the culprit of the meowling it was in fact a brown cat with stripes in a pattern resembling a tigers stripes in a darker brown color and the most noticeable feature a red bow on one ear. Little did little naruto know he just met tora bane of all gennins the demon cat destroyer of world's (well the people that thought this up were obviously mental but the point is tora is known by this name to them) a cat that was as famed in the ninja corps as hatake kakashi. So yeah it was one mean Damn cat is what you could say the point was. Just then tora caught sight of naruto so being the antisocial animal it was hissed at him.

"Its okay I won't hurt you. You know you shouldn't be here come on I'll let you out" so naruto went to the gate to the house which was just a big wooden double door ten feet high and twelve feet across and enforced by seal's making it were you couldn't see anything but the upper portion of the house from the outside. Since the house wasn't in lockdown anyone keyed into the matrix could open the door. So naruto opened it and let tora out so the cat could get back to its reign of terror, as evidence by many a gennin getting a shiver down their spines.

"Naruto" just then he heard his mother's voice coming from the house apparently his parents must of gotten home while he was attending to tora. You might be thinking how they got home without running by naruto since he was at the only instance to the grounds simple the parents of the namikaze family more oft than not flashed home together using a Hiraishin seal placed in the living room of the house. So naruto quickly closed the gate and hurried to welcome his parents home.

As he entered the house he saw both his parents right their in the living room and when they caught sight of him that smiled happy to see their child after a day of work and errands. You see even though kushina was now a mother she didn't really quit being a ninja minato had his hokage duties so he definitely had to work. But kushina being her hyperactive self couldn't just quit her career even if she had two children to look after her mind and body were made and conditioned for the life of a ninja so she took the occasional mission or errand and made sure to keep in shape so sometimes naruto and natsumi were at home alone because both of their parents worked.

"There you are naruto how was your day" naruto smiled at his mother before replying "great you and tou-san are home early today anything happen" kushina the replied "yeah I didn't feel like doing much this time (remember she only occasionally goes for any ninja work) so I only did a few errands. And there wasn't much paperwork so me and your tou-san were able to come home early".

She snickered in amusement as she heard minato mumble in a haunted tone 'paperwork' minato like all kages hated paperwork with a passion sometimes the Secretary would get scared hearing sounds of battle in his office and in minato's eyes it was a battle a battle more epic and arduous than any he has ever endured. let it be known that the one thing minato could truly state he hated was paperwork, iwa a village that had countless people that hated him almost religiously he was annoyed and unnerved at but didn't hate, the articulate and raikage onoki and A both major political opponents once enemies in battle and all around pains in his ass he disliked not hated but paperwork you couldn't stop him from hating that. It got so bad their was actually a mission often given out for ninja to take paperwork into his office and give it to him, the reason being he unconsciously bombarded them with killing intent, no one wanted to deal with minato namikaze when paperwork was an issue except of course his wife who's favorite pastime was poking fun at him by bringing it up.

In an effort to change the subject away from the evil paperwork minato then started a new line of conversation. "So naruto did you see what natsumi did" minato said this in a cheerful voice despite the fact that the evil ones were mentioned not long ago.

Naruto was of course curious as to what his sister had done "No what did she do?"

"She drew this wonderful picture" kushina said this with a smile obviously happy at what happened.

"Really" now naruto was interested. Bastion had drawn a picture as well? Most likely she saw him drawing and sought to one up him she always was fiercely competitive especially whith him.

"Yep look doesn't it look just like us" hinata just showed the picture he was holding in his hands to naruto.

Naruto's eyes widened either natsumi's style of drawing was exactly like his or that was HIS picture. Which one added difference natsumi's chickenscratch handwriting labeling who was who below minato and kushinas pictures was the words dad and mom under natsumi was the word 'me' proclaiming her as the artist. And then under naruto's picture was naru-nii.

"That's my picture" naruto said this in a shocked tone due to the fact he was surprised by this turn of events.

"What" minato's smile had disappeared and was replaced by a small frown thinking that naruto was trying to take credit for natsumi's work.

"I mean I was the one that drew that" naruto was at this point trying to explain what was going on to his parents.

"Naruto you know how we feel about lying" kushina now followed her husband in frowning thinking he was lying just like he was 'lying' about natsumi sleeping with natsumi was painful.

"But I'm not lying" naruto was getting very frustrated as his pleas were falling on deaf ears.

"I personally saw natsumi finish this drawing when we came home. If it's really your picture than were where you" actually she and minato just coincidently got home at the same time as natsumi was adding the names and after seeing that she fully believed that the picture was natsumi's.

"I heard a cat outside then I went to let it..." naruto never got to finish explaining before he was interrupted.

"So you were outside playing with a cat that's no reason to try and take credit for natsumi's picture. Some would consider this stealing and you know how we feel about that as well as lying" kushina now just thought naruto was making excuses.

"But I wasn't..." and once again naruto was interrupted before he could explain.

"Enough young man I have had it up to here without obvious lies" she wasn't just referring to now but also the other time he 'lied'. "As punishment for lying and trying to take credit for natsumi's picture you are to go up to your room for the rest of the day. You also won't be coming with us when we go yo ichiraku's later either". Kushina said this in a stern and commanding voice that clearly said 'no buts mister'.

Naruto couldn't believe it he worked his ass of on that picture he leaves for no more than two minutes and natsumi steals it then his parents take her side. And not only that he was being punished while she was going to ichiraku's it just wasn't fair.

But nevertheless he simply clenched his fists in defeat and made the long trek upstairs to his room. He stopped at the front of the door and looked over the banister into the main room.

What he saw hurt him. His parents were looking at him, obviously to make sure he was going to his room and he wasn't going to do anything childish out of anger, they were looking at him with stern looks of disappointment. It was painful especially for a young child that looked up to and cared for their parents as much as naruto did.

He then looked and saw natsumi she had smug grin on her face the same she always wore whenever he got in trouble. When she noticed he was looking at her she stuck out her tongue and pulled down her eyelid adding insult to injury. Her parents were in front of her so they didn't see the mean act their eyes were solely trained on naruto.

Naruto then turned the knob to his room and went inside. His face a visage of anger, frustration and sadness. His teeth were grit and tears were threatening to spill from his eyes.

Natsumi's actions in the past had annoyed naruto they had shocked him frustrated saddened and shocked him. But for the first time in ever kind, caring and shy naruto was angered.

This was the first time he could ever say he hated his sister.

It would not be the last.

* * *

**and chapter end**

**Sorry it took so long to make I actually had to write this twice my computer shut of before I could save it last time. And a number of distractions popped up.**

**But i got my grammar right or at least better than last time.**

**Also I want to say minato and kushina are not bad parents it's just a series of bad coincidences misinformation and the fact that their a little strict that causes them to do what they do if they knew what was really going on they would feel like crap. But they don't otherwise their would be no story.**

**As for natsumi she is very bratty and self centered but she is not evil she just doesn't know the exact extent of what she's doing she just see's it as having fun at her brothers expense that it's not scaring in any way thinking he'll just forget about it soon. Cruelty due to ignorance and sibling rivalry.**

**I'll try to update soon and remember these beginning chapter's are just paraphrased versions of thanathos's story I won't copy and paste that is just week so I'm rewriting it all.**

**Stay frosty dudes.**


	3. emergence of talent

**hello dudes I'll keep this short**

**These first few chapter originally belong to thanathos's story God of illusion host of the devils arm.**

**I will try to make this longer but no promises.**

**This chapter will have my first action scenes please tell me if the style of writing I have for action scenes is good or not so I can get it right okay**

**Suggestions are appreciated**

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO NEVER HAVE NEVER WILL PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE DUDES.**

* * *

**ch 3 emergence of talent **

**Namikaze house**

currently at the namikaze house the two namikaze children were enduring a day of training. Since the twins fifth birthday they had started training under their parents guidance. And since both were very accomplished shinobi they couldn't ask for better teachers. Currently the twins were in a taijutsu spar and given the fact the we're very competitive ( natsumi due to trying to always one up her brother. And naruto due to not wanting to be one upped.) They were giving it their all.

Naruto blocked a right jab that was aiming for his face with his left forearm which he the proceeded to counter with his own jab aimed for the stomachs to hopefully trip up his brawler of a sister. She not really as skilled in defensive took the hit but due to her physical superiority brushed it of and retaliated with a left cross. Naruto unable to block lessened the damage by turning left and rolling with the punch when he was facing away from his sister he then lunged his left foot backwards and planted it in natsumi's soft stomach the only sign that it connected with her was a gasping 'oof' sound before she once again brushed it of and assaulted naruto with a uppercut straight to the jaw he wasn't able to block dodge or roll with the hit this time as evidence of him being knocked on his back. he quickly leapt back to his feet and got into his stance to continue the sibling bout, that is until his father called the match.

"That's enough you two" minato bore a pleased expression happy at his children's amazing taijutsu prowess for their age."excellent both of you especially you natsumi you kept your brother on the defensive during most of the fight". That had natsumi grin taking her father's praise as a confirmation of her 'victory' "not many girls or boys your age are as strong as you natsumi I'm impressed" natsumi's grin was positively Cheshire at this point absorbing the praise with gusto.

"Easy to do when you got a biju in your gut buffing you up" naruto said in clear annoyance because of his sister's ability to beat him, or at least keep him on the defensive, in a fight using her haphazard taijutsu and her natural strength, stamina and speed granted by said aforementioned monster.

"Naruto..." minato said his name in a slightly scolding tone with a small frown taking naruto's words as teasing.

"What it's true lady biwako said so herself when we went to get a checkup a month ago" it was true the family went to the sandaime's widow for a checkup not long ago during that time biwako told them that the nine tails youki was seeping into natsumi's system strengthening her muscles bones and altogether improving her physical condition therefore natsumi would be naturally more physically fit than every child her age. Natsumi had zoned out due to the fact biwako went into lecture mode during the explanation so her ears took it as a sign to focus elsewhere naruto however was paying rapt attention as per the norm for him.

"True but you don't have to rub it in" minato still talked in a slightly scolding tone believing naruto was teasing his sister or make her feel bad at least. Naruto hated that whenever natsumi had an accomplishment that should really be accredited to the Fox his parents and natsumi acted like it was really hers and whenever he told her otherwise he was scolded because his words were seen as teasing or acts of jealousy putting him in the wrong and enabling natsumi to continue coasting off of her natural abilities granted by the Fox. For instance her strength speed stamina and naturally large chakra reserves.

"Yes I do otherwise she'll take it as a personal accomplishment and relie on the Fox to solve all her problems. I mean really tou-san if me and natsumi's strength and speed were the Sam which one of us would win".

Luckily naruto's argument was able to get through to his father this time "*sigh* you would have naruto" naruto smiled at this seeing he got through to one of his parents this time even if he was still slightly ticked. His parents always seemed to be trying to protect natsumi's ego, which he couldn't understand why to a ninja an ego or superiority complex was useless and more oft than not a hindrance that took the lives of more than its fair share of ninja.

All the while natsumi pouted at her father upset at his declaration "what" minato said in a defending tone "he's got a point" natsumi just narrowed her eyes stating how she still wasn't happy "look natsumi during you and your brothers spar you never attempted to block or dodge you focused solely on attacking and just took naruto's hits"

"So it didn't hurt and I was still able to win" natsumi simply said this to defend her actions there wasn't much weight in her words because since when was getting hit at all negligible in their line of work.

"Natsumi most times you'll be fighting armed opponents and if you get cut or stabbed by a kunai or katana it will hurt. Your mother tells me that's the main reason you usually loose to your brother in kenjutsu".

"Nuh-uh mom just calls the fight before anything happens" she defended.

"No she calls the fights because you get hit" minato responded calmly knowing we're this argument will lead.

"Just in my arms or shins" she retorted out of sheer stubbornness.

"Well can you fight after you lose an arm or foot. And not only that but what if you ever fight someone physically superior to you the only way to beat them is through proper fighting style and tactics you won't be able to overpower them like with your brother" minato's argument had no holes in it he had natsumi right were he wanted her.

Still with a pout on her face natsumi answered "...okay" she said this with same difficulty her pride being to great to allow anything else.

"Good now was that so hard" minato smiled happy believing his child understood the lesson. Even though natsumi's face showed it clearly was hard to accept and she didn't really want to take the lesson to heart, ah sweet ignorance.

"Now the let's move on to ninjutsu" natsumi's expression did a one-eighty right then she loved ninjutsu like nothing else it was the area of ninja expertise she was best at taijutsu and kenjutsu taking second and third place. But while natsumi smiled naruto was a little less spirited. Don't get him wrong he liked ninjutsu like everyone else and compared to normal kids he was really good at them. But when it came to Ninjutsu natsumi was in a class of her own due to her stamina and increased chakra reserves she was able to practice nonstop while naruto had to take breaks also she could overload the jutsu with chakra while naruto had to use proper control. naruto May have had large reserves for his age, heck they were even larger than normal uzumaki's his age which was pretty big, but his reserves were nowhere near natsumi's level. The reason her reserves were so large was once again because of the giant furry beast in her stomach were seemingly all her ninja skills came from.

Unfortunately for natsumi this was a double edged sword she had large reserves but her control was shot to hell as compared to naruto who could already walk on water she was having trouble doing even leaf balancing, though this was partly because of her lack of enthusiasm for anything other than badass ninja battle skills.

Despite naruto using his control skills to avoid natsumi whenever she saught him out to torment him (as she has shown she likes to do) natsumi saw no reason to rectify this problem she could do jutsu and that's all that mattered her cool badass jutsu. (even though the highest level jutsu she learned was a c-rank who the hell would give 5-6 year olds deadly jutsu that's just asking for trouble). Naruto frequently told her to focus on her control due to the necessity of it in a ninja career but despite it being sound and helpful advice to his parents his advice was perceived as teasing and bullying being in the same mind as natsumi if she could do the jutsu it wasn't urgent, though in defense of the two parents reasoning the kids are only 5-6 years old.

Naruto was angered at this it was sound reasoning deal with the problem when it's easier to deal with instead of waiting until it couldn't be properly repaired after all if they waited natsumi's chakra reserves would get to big for her to get decent control over it and that would be a major problem.

If your wondering why naruto was trying to help natsumi. It's because naruto knew what it truly meant to be a ninja, after all he was very smart and observant for his age plus he read a number of helpful books that held advice for someone's ninja career. you may have to kill and you may end up being killed in service to your home. He and natsumi May not of had the best brother sister relationship (*cough* understatement *cough*) but he would never wish death on her he would never wish death on anyone after all naruto's inherent nature was shy, calm, understanding and kind. He was a peace lover and when he became a ninja he would try to avoid death as much as he could. he knew he may have to kill one day but he would only due so in the defense of others, when he has no choice and if he ever ran into someone that were one of those people that just needed to die, though he would be rather hesitant to decide if someone was in the latter of the reasons.

Anyway back to ninjutsu while their skill level at learning had natsumi being the better the mentality at using ninjutsu was different while natsumi was happy just learning a jutsu and moving on to the next, that didn't satisfy naruto. No he knew learning wasn't mastering he practiced with his jutsu disassembled them to find out how they worked and then sought to improve them or his skill at using them. While his sister could just overload them he experimented on them for instance the _suiton: gunshot jutsu (c-rank fires a compressed ball of water from the mouth that causes blunt damage mid to long range technique)_ the newest jutsu they learned, and probably the most advanced jutsu the would learn for awhile, naruto tested it and tried finding ways to mold his chakra to change the technique maybe to make it faster or stronger give it a piercing ability or ways to conserve chakra while using it. He was successful in learning how to make it stronger and faster and also able to do the handsigns at a much quicker pace sadly the piercing ability bore no fruit and he had to move on but still a success._  
_

Then there were other areas of being a ninja and here is we're naruto's true skill comes in.

Naruto's true skill came out in fuinjutsu and more importantly genjutsu. Due to naruto's outstanding control, wisdom and imagination he was a natural at genjutsu, it didn't hurt that genjutsu also fascinated him just like with fuinjutsu. Kushina had taught the twins the basics of genjutsu and naruto took to it like a duck to water he understood the instructions and lessons in a relatively short time he even learned the low level genjutsu his mother taught him quickly. Natsumi on the other hand couldn't get anything genjutsu was far from her area of expertise. She lacked the attention span and the brainpower to properly get it what's more she couldn't even dispelled the lowest level genjutsu that kushina used on them to test their ability to break genjutsu. Due to her anger and frustration at this (and the fact she was so clearly outclassed by her brother in this area) that she complained about this particular lessons. So kushina decided, much to naruto's sadness, to drop the topic of genjutsu till the children were more mature and older.

The same could be said for fuinjutsu lessons while complicated both parents were adamant about at least introducing this art to their children, both being master's of the art and kushina coming from a clan who's fame came from their prowess in the art so of course they would teach they're children this skill. They started on the basics basically rules one was to follow when performing fuinjutsu as well as calligraphy. Naruto just like with genjutsu naruto took well to the lessons absorbing the information like a sponge and because of his artistic skills calligraphy was very simple to him and just like genjutsu he learned the seal his mother was teaching them a simple storage seal. Fuinjutsu came simple to naruto because to him it was simple all you had to do was know the rules and not break them, you could bend them to a degree but breaking them would yield explosive results, then the only other thing necessary was knowledge and experience.

Once again natsumi found a problem with the abstract and difficult skill. Her attention span prevented her from getting the more scholar like learning process of fuinjutsu and her calligraphy wasn't the best. So the parents stopped the lessons quickly because of this and the fact they were satisfies merely introducing fuinjutsu to them for now, after all it was the trickiest branch of shinobi skill and children not even uzumaki children would have much ease in learning.

Naruto of course was not happy seeming to have lost two areas of ninja expertise he excelled at due to his parents overlooking his skill at them and only focusing on natsumi's lack thereof. He wanted to learn those two arts no needed to was more like it. He was able to solve the fuinjutsu problem by getting a hold on the beginners book for fuinjutsu his mother used for reference during the short lesson, she forgot it and then returning later for it found it was gone. so believing her husband put it away left it at that, It wouldn't be missed having so many books and scrolls added to the lack of necessity for the book meaning it would not be noticed for a long time if ever.

Genjutsu however was another matter entirely not having any book he could nab I mean borrow and with his parents lack of skill in genjutsu, aside from a few low leveled one's and the ability to dispel them, there wasn't going to be any books showing up. Naruto in depression at the seeming loss of what could have been his most skilled area of expertise went on a walk to clear his head.

What was supposed to be a little walk turned out to be a life changing event.

* * *

**Street's of konoha**

naruto was currently walking to the shopping district of konoha depressed by the whole loss of genjutsu lessons debacle. In his pocket was a cat wallet (his sister got the frog don't worry the cat becomes relevant later) a gift from his fourth birthday depicting a cat with a large grin and big circular green eyes with a weird crooked spiral replacing the normal slitted pupil the wallet was a gift for his fourth birthday. Filling the wallet was his saving from his monthly allowance, while natsumi seemed like she couldn't spend her money fast enough naruto was much more frugal so his wallet was practically bursting with ryo. He planned on cheering himself up by getting something sweet at one of the many establishment's that sold food in the shopping district.

Currently though he was lost in thought 'man this is so unfair all because natsumi can't do genjutsu she has to ruin it for me. I can't believe it, I really really wanted to learn genjutsu' naruto was so lost in thought he ended up bumping into someone.

"Oof" naruto was then knocked onto his but by the man he ran into naruto being a five year old was of course the less physically imposing so the man really only stumbled but than apologised.

"Oh sorry gaki didn't see ya there you ok" the man had messy dark brown hair done in a messy ponytail a youthful face with a bit of stubble on his chin he was wearing a loose long sleeved black shirt with what looked like a wing symbol on the front in white (kurama clan symbol) a short sleeved brown jacket and black shinobi pants. He also had a konoha headband on his bicep depicting him as a ninja. He had a youthful laidback attitude and air about him and he seemed generally sorry as he extended his hand to help naruto up.

Naruto accepted his aid "yeah I'm ok, mister?" His last word was in a questioning manner.

"Oh my name is Saito, saito kurama of the illustrious kurama clan" he said the last part with obvious pride.

"Kurama!" Naruto of course knew who the kurama clan were he being the studious bookworm he was had read up on them and knew of their fame with genjutsu, naruto couldn't believe his luck the answer to his most recent problem landing in his lap or rather knocked him over.

"Oh so you've heard of us can't say I'm surprised" he was not ashamed to proclaim his clans fame even though his clan wasn't exactly famous. "So what's your name gaki".

"I'm naruto, naruto namikaze."

Saito blinked the got right in narutos face, clearly he needed a lesson in personal space "that's hokage-sama's name hmmmm are you his kid" naruto nodded "I can see the resemblance though your hair is way less spiky than his, didn't even know hokage-sama had a son. Knew he had a daughter" naruto scowled at this everyone knew about his sister but very few knew about him. "Everyone says she like a savior or a hero for whatever reason I don't know" the man said this in a dismissive tone not really caring. naruto then smiled at this happy to see this man wasn't one of his sister's adoring fans.

"Um excuse me mister" saito held up his hand stopping naruto right there.

"Call me saito kid mister makes me sound old" naruto nodded understanding.

"Um could I ask you some questions" naruto said this nervously worried the man would brush him off.

"Bout what" saito was curious to what the young boy wanted to know.

"Genjutsu" naruto said simply.

Saito blinked at that, Genjutsu would be his last guess. "Genjutsu Why?" Normally when a young kid asked a ninja something it was about cool ninjutsu or 'what cool mission's have you been on' not many kids were interested in genjutsu as opposed to the much more popular branch of ninjutsu.

"Well it's just im training to be a ninja and I'm interested in genjutsu" saito smiled at this he liked this kid.

"Well good on you kid you picked a good area of shinobi skills to be interested in. I'd be happy to answer all your questions gaki".

Really that's gre...""but" naruto was interrupted by saito and was curious as well as a little cautious of what the but meant.

"I'll answer all your questions, but you have to do something for me"

"W-what" naruto was a little cautious due to the gleam in saito's eye.

Saito smiled "you see kid I was just coming back from training and was on my way to get lunch. If it's your treat I'll sneer any quistion you have"

"O-oh that's ok I guess" saito's smile got wider.

"Great"

It was not great.

* * *

**dango shop**

fifteen plates FIFTEEN FRICKEN PLATES OF DANGO! (and a side of red been soup) saito had no restraint when it came to literally eating into his savings his neko-chan (the wallets name) once so fat and beautiful now was barely a fifth of what it once was. That advice he was getting had better be worth it.

"Ah this is great kid thanks" saito said this from around a dango skewer he also had what could be called a shit-eating grin that earned him and glare from naruto, but he just laughed it off.

"So what can you tell me about genju..." saito then interrupted.

"Slow your role kid, first why don't you tell me the real reason your so keen on learning about genjutsu". Saito said this in a serious manner that startled naruto slightly.

"What do you mean I told you" naruto was beginning to lose his patience he needed that advice.

"Yeah and it was a horrible lie, no regular kid is willing to buy a complete stranger lunch just because their a 'little' interested in genjutsu" . Naruto's eyes widened was that why he asked for him to buy him lunch to test how badly he wanted the information? Actually the reason was saito is cheap so when he saw a chance to bum a meal of someone in exchange for a little advice he took it but let's just go with what naruto was thinking. Under saito's serious stare naruto caved in and told him his true reason and feelings on the matter.

"Fine, the reason I'm so interested in genjutsu is because I... I just get It. It comes so naturally to me, I mean sure I'm pretty good at the other areas I practice it's not like genjutsu is the only thing I'm good at. I learn my taijutsu and kenjutsu katas quick enough ninjutsu is alright and I've recently took an interest in fuinjutsu". Saito's eyes widened at that. Those were some pretty diverse skills and if the hokage was really really training his kid in all of them he was going to be one tough cookie when he grows up. Saito the proceeded to listen to the boy. "But with genjutsu it's different it's not like I just want to learn it it's more like I need to. It's an urge to pursue learning it that's why I'm interested in genjutsu" he found himself with his head down when he finished saito was quite. "What does it sound stupid" he looked up expecting to see a look of mocking amusement instead he saw a kind smile.

"Now that there is a proper reason kid" naruto was happy seeing his reason was satisfactory. "I said it before and I'll say it again good on you kid. Not many people choose genjutsu as an area of interest any more, they think it's just an ability to make your opponent see things and stun them but it's not". Naruto was listening whith rapt attention knowing the advice he sought was coming up. "Genjutsu does more than scare people it can be used to stun people to the point of paralysis it can put people to sleep make people think irrationally through fear or other means it can be used for hiding, fooling people by subtle changes that can be deadly if used right. All in all genjutsu opens up a whole nother realm of strategic possibilities to ninja." Naruto was basically entranced so many possibilities and effects, to a boy with a keen strategic mind this was awesome. "Actually genjutsu is the reason we kurama are famous. Or more specifically our kekkei genkai" this surprised naruto he knew little of the kurama clans Kekkei genkai. "It basically makes our genjutsu more potent or harder to dispel. Heck we even, once every great while, a person who shows up in our clan that's bloodline ability is so great it can actually cause physical harm on someone through the illusions". Now that had naruto's eyes widen the ability to hurt someone using simple illusions he couldn't imagine a greater boon to genjutsu users. " I hear we actually have someone that has the ability now, a girl named yakumo. But I also here she has her fair share of problems with it something about controlling it".

"Anyway kid now's the time for the real advice the same advice I got from my own master that taught me genjutsu" saito said this proudly most likely to excite naruto it didn't work.

"All I get is second hand advice for all the money I spent on you" naruto said annoyed.

Saito had a vein throb on his forehead "Its good advice gaki so just shuddup and listen!"

Saito then got serious prompting naruto's full attention "genjutsu" he began in a tone that didn't fit him "is different compared to other branches of jutsu be it tai, nin, Ken, or even fuinjutsu you learn from a master you may one day become a master and with talent and determination you may even surpass the one that taught you using nothing more than what they taught you. In taijutsu you can become a master using only moves taught by others same with ninjutsu or any other branch all you need is chakra talent and guts and you'll be able to do it. Genjutsu is a whole other ball park kid".

Naruto asked "why".

"Because you can learn from a master but you will never ever surpass your master or even become one using nothing but what they taught you. Genjutsu relies on one's own imagination to work and like imagination genjutsu is unique to the person who makes it, it's custom made if you will. If you use someone else's genjutsu your using something made for someone else so it won't really 'fit' properly you see" naruto nodded telling him he understood. "Just like the handsigns for genjutsu in reality they aren't that crucial".

"But my mom said..." naruto interrupted.

"Does your mom happen to be a genjutsu specialist and come from a clan famous for genjutsu?"

"N-no" naruto said sheepishly.

"No. she doesn't. So shuddup!" Saito said this in a fake mocking tone that just earned him a pout and a weak glare from naruto which he casually shrugged off.

"Now where was I before I was oh so rudely interrupted (Que intense of glare) oh yes handsigns. In ninjutsu handsigns are important since they correlate with nature and other things. Genjutsu however handsigns are just used to help focus a medium or catalyst if you will. They are used for beginners all way up to intermediate level. Once you get good enough you can do your genjutsu without handsigns which is fundamentally better not only because it takes time to use handsigns but because they take away from your focus on the genjutsu itself to help you cast it taking away potency for ease of casting. Once you don't need handsigns you can activate genjutsu with a gesture or a sound masters can even cast genjutsu with just eye contact or the twitch of a finger. And remember your best genjutsu the hardest to break and easiest to cast or ones you yourself make, a novice who uses a genjutsu he made can and has cast a better genjutsu than a master who uses someone else's genjutsu. If you want to succeed in genjutsu don't ask how to do a genjutsu ask what it does and make your own with the same effect it's tougher to do but well worth the effort."

Naruto was in awe "so when I get good enough I'll be able to cast genjutsu without handsigns?"

"Actually kid once you get used to how your chakra flows for a genjutsu you'll be able to do it without handsigns, it's all about control. That's why chakra control is so important to us genjutsu users and why those with poor chakra control can't break out of em."

Saito then got up "well kid looks like I better get going you know no rest for the wicked" saito then placed his hand on naruto's head and ruffled his hair "but before I go how about one more piece of personnel advice."

"You aren't going to try to bum more dango off me for this are you old man?" Naruto said cheekily

"I'll have you know I'm only eighteen im just lazy when it comes to shaving, now do you want that advice or not you little brat" saito's smile got strained and he had a twitch in his eye.

"Okay okay I'll here your advice, just stop squeezing my head." Sure enough saito went from playfully messing up his hair to squeezing his head, being called old must of been one of his buttons.

Saito took his hand of naruto's head "when making genjutsu don't just use this" he then poked naruto in the head "but also use this" he then poked him in the chest over the heart.

"My heart?" Naruto asked confused.

Saito nodded "genjutsu aren't just made from imagination but also passion, like an artist the greatest creations you'll ever make will be a product of imagination and passion. For that is what genjutsu is an art" naruto stared in awe that would be advice he would cherish for the rest of his life.

"Well be seeing you kid" with that saito left naruto was a little said to see him go he was nice in a weird way.

Just then he looked at saito's seat and saw a few scrolls. After looking he saw they were genjutsu scrolls with a large amount of knowledge on various genjutsu effects and how to make your own genjutsu. Saito must have left them their for him. Naruto quickly gather the scrolls got up and ran out of the establishment.

Once outside he looked for saito he saw him walking down the road both hands in his pocket and the setting sun in front of him with his back to naruto.

"SAITO THANK YOU!" naruto shouted out truly grateful for the words of wisdom and help the man provided.

Saito just pulled his left hand out of his pocket and lazily waved back to naruto without even turning around. Naruto thought he looked cool walking away the sunset in front of him his hands in his pockets with one waving back nonchalantly giving him an aloof and mysterious aura.

Now if he were in front of him he would of saw saito with anime tears rolling down his face and a goofy smile. All the while he was thinking 'saito kurama you are one aloof and mysterious badass, and you just got your first fan.'

And so saito left. Giving one last thought.

'Suck it kakashi.'

* * *

So naruto went about creating his own genjutsu using saito's advice and scrolls, which were very important to his growth, he was able to create a few low level genjutsu he tested on animals and harmless ones on civilians. He also increased his efforts in his artistic abilities to fuel his imagination and passion as Saito said, unfortunetly his sister was up to her old tricks and after stealing another picture of his, a sketch of konoha from a hill in one of the more landscape oriented places in the village, he decided to destroy his pictures so natsumi couldn't use them to garner more favor from their parents.

Also naruto's fuinjutsu was coming along well, mostly due to the information falling into his lap. You see any information pertaining to ninja training was kept locked under fuinjutsu seals in the library. So naruto couldn't just go get it, but his father frequently brought out fuinjutsu books and scrolls for reference when he was making new seals or tweaking old ones and he had a bad habit of leaving them out. So naruto was able to get a hold of these books and copy (he wasn't going to risk his parents finding out he took the books when it's books they actually use) a majority of their content so his study in seals were going well.

By now the children were six and they had been advancing in their individual skills.

Naruto was Very skilled in fuinjutsu and genjutsu (not that anyone knew apart from his first lessons no one saw him practicing these skills) he was also more advanced in chakra control he regularly trained in it for his genjutsu. He also Held an edge over his sister in kenjutsu because his skill and control when it came to his style and because he blocked and dodged unlike his sister that preferred power over strategy and skill. Natsumi held the advantage in taijutsu, due largely to her better physical condition as naruto yet again held more skill and strategy but it was eclipsed by his sister's brute strength. Natsumi was also more powerful when it came to jutsu being able to learn faster and overload the jutsu making them stronger, naruto May have mastered the jutsu he learned and experimented with them but his sister's power was able to trounce his skill once again.

But natsumi control though was still horrible as things were natsumi would never be able to do jutsu requiring a minimum amount of chakra like the _bunshin_ so minato and kushina instead taught her the _kage_ bunshin a jutsu perfect for those with large chakra reserves. Naruto though in a moment of jealousy did the technique himself successfully making two but after they dispelled he had a minor case of chakra exhaustion since then he's raised his reserves and could safely make two. He also knew of the benefits of the jutsu and how he could use them for training he had the clones work on control and studying for his various skills like ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, taijutsu katas and of course genjutsu. While they did that naruto focused on physical conditioning and genjutsu, he was slowly closing the gap between him and his sister in terms of physical skill due to the extra work he put in and his other skills were improving as well due to his new training tool.

He also took apart the jutsu finding what made it tick what gave the bunshin independent thought and from his work he made two new techniques the first he called a _book_ clone now don't let the name fool you it wasn't made of books or paper it was just a standard shadow clone only difference being it had very little chakra in it enough to last an hour at most, if it didn't use any chakra at all. The advantage to this clone was it only cost the amount of a c-rank jutsu and retained the the memory feedback. It was used for reading with this he could learn a large amount of knowledge in little time therefore adding to naruto's impressive wisdom though he couldn't use it for ninja training other than seals or brainstorming he also used them as guinea pigs for his genjutsu which was a tremendous help.

The second was _genzou bunshin (thanathos's not mine) _a regular bunshin that was independent of the user and didn't dispel when attacked. This jutsu had a low d-rank cost and had need for little chakra control it was a good jutsu. But every time he tried to present it people would say it was useless against experienced shinobi. Naruto tried to tell them it was for newly minted Benin and trainees but they weren't listening by then though minato was happy that naruto was trying to make his own jutsu, even if they were useless ones in his opinion.

While naruto was training, reading and altogether enhancing his shinobi abilities natsumi busied herself with spending time with freinds. Of which naruto had none due to the little debacle at their fifth birthday naruto was a bit of a social outcast something natsumi actually encouraged. So while natsumi had fun with her freinds naruto trained, he was making good headway on genjutsu. One he was working on was going to be a really good one it was his personal project for the past few weeks and he was almost done.

Little did he know he would need it soon.

* * *

**namikaze house**

currently naruto and natsumi were unpacking groceries unsupervised due to their mother going back for a forgotten diner ingredient.

Suddenly they heard a whooshing sound. Being trained in throwing shuriken and kunai they knew what it was and quickly moved had they been a second late they would of had more fresh air getting into their skulls as evidence of the two kunai sticking out of the wall. They quickly turned to face their attacker and saw a large man with a headband with rocks carved on it. They quickly sprung into action natsumi summoning two-dozen clones believing that they would be enough, only to be stunned as to the man they were little more than nuisances as he systematically destroyed them. Naruto being the more sensible one grabbed his sister and fleed. Hoping he'd be able to get to the street to get professional assistance. They made it out the door and were six feet from the gate before they were forced to move to avoid another barrage of throwing weapons naruto was able to avoid them taking only a few scratches but natsumi had one implant itself in her calf and from the way her eyes were losing focus it was poisoned and naruto was beginning to feel the effects as well.

With escape taken and their assailant charging with a tanto drawn naruto did the first thing that came to mind and swiftly did handsigns hoping that whatever he did would work.

* * *

Gin azuma jonin in level Hunter nin from iwa, who left due to wanting to get revenge against the yellow flash for the death of his brother in the third great war, saw one of his targets beginning handsigns having none of that he took his tanto and slit the child's throat the boy gained a look of disbelief and fear, which caused a little twinge of guilt in gin before he remembered what this was for.

"Sorry kid nothing personal" he then walked over to the girl who by now was almost to the gate by crawling due to the poison gin made it quick and stabbed her in the heart. Unfortunately for him a great discharge of chakra occurred after her death no doubt alerting any local shinobi so gin wisely ran.

As expected soon there was a large commotion going on that allowed him to slip out and make a straight beeline for kusa on his way to iwa.

A few minutes in to his escape he noticed he was being followed not as much of a headstart as he wanted but more than he expected he stepped up the speed he was going. You see despite gin being a jonin as well as a hunter nin he wasn't really that strong his fighting ability being high-chunin to low-join so there was no way he was going to survive a fight. His more noticeable skills lye in stealth, which was the reason why he was able to pull of his plans till now, and trap making he had his entire route back to iwa riddled with traps he was taking no risks in his escape.

And so his escape was filled with sound of his traps going of with the occasional scream signaling that someone's life was taken. After the first round of traps they got more cautious allowing him stay ahead. Finally he came to an area one he spread his around and hid one of his hiding spots he quickly entered and closed of the hole he was hiding in waiting till the people passed by. They overlooked the hiding spot and went on right into a rather large trap filled with poisoned sennin. He had a communicator set up by the trap to know when they got their when he heard their voices he sprung the trap. After that the communicator yelled out shouts of surprise as he left his hiding spot and made a beeline home. Just then he heard a conversation of interest on the communicator.

"DAMN he got kushina-sama where are the medics."

"They're all dead the got killed by the explosions"

"DAMNIT take her back to the leaf inuzukas with me we're going to get that bastard"

Kushina as in kushina namikaze the red death was after him he dodged a bullet their, which was more than he could say for her by the sound of things the sennin got her, they were covered in a fast acting and lethal poison she would not make it. For added security he activated a seal that would let out a number of stink bombs in the area around what was left of his pursuers, tracking him was now impossible he was home free.

A few days later he made it to iwa and was given a hero's welcome, and news that the entire namikaze family was dead the yellow flash commiting suicide upon news of his entire family's death. the tsuchikage an avid konoha hater welcomed him with full honors. And life was bliss.

Till he woke up and a guy named ibiki shoved a red hot poker up his ass.

* * *

**namikaze house**

right now two anbu, wearing a dog and weasel mask, and the namikaze parents were in the yard watching the two unconscious children who were knocked out by a sleeping agent some kunai were covered in.

"How the hell did he even get in?" Asked the dog masked nin.

"Apparently he snuck in while kushina-sama was out getting some groceries she forgot, the seals have been changed but the deed is done" was the reply of weasel mask.

"Ok, now what happened to him?"

"Ibiki says it was a high class genjutsu, man actually caught to stay in it not that I can blame him with ibiki waiting with armed with a red hot poker ugh." He shivered in the end poor bastard almost felt sorry for him.

Kushina then piped up "so who put him under it?"

Minato answered "that what we're all wondering any ninja by the house at the time aren't genjutsu experts except for a few kurama clan members and even though they'd like to take credit none of them did it." He then took a thinking pose "we don't even know what type of genjutsu it was, which means it's old, customized or self made because we have no knowledge on it."

Kushina's eyes wondered to her two sleeping children "do you think one of them...?"

Itachi answered her question "possibly if so we got ourselves a genjutsu prodigy here."

Kakashi though didn't agree "I don't think so, a genjutsu prodigy normally gets noticed. Unlike with nin or taijutsu genjutsu needs to be practiced on people so we'd notice."

Itachi took his own thinking pose "true, but this could be a special case, anyway the genjutsu was good the attacker was a jonin therefore he should have been able to dispel it should he caught on he didn't which means it was subtle worked with his thought process as well as pleasant enough to not dispel out of desperation all that with a few other points of notice I would rank b-rank maybe an a-rank genjutsu."

Kushina then interjected "but neither of them received any training in genjutsu other than one lesson natsumi couldn't get it so I stopped the lessons. Naruto got it quick enough but we have only a few scrolls on genjutsu and we never take them out they wouldn't be able to access the information necessary to do this."

Kakashi looked at natsumi "you don't suppose the kyuubi could be responsible for this do you?"

Minato considered it "it's possible kitsune's are known to be tricksters and biju sometimes give their host's abilities so it wouldn't be a long shot to think the kyuubi did this, even though the kyuubi has never been known to use genjutsu that might be because of lack of necessity."

Itachi disagreed "I don't think so wouldn't their be some sign youki residue for instance, parts of konoha are still uninhabitable due to that reason are you saying fresher trails would be gone this quickly?"

"Do you have a better theory?" Kakashi asked.

"*sigh* no, but I can't help but feel we're missing something here."

"I do to but we have no better explanation so this is what we're going to have to stick to it." Minato said.

"And if the genjutsu is as good as you say it is even the Iwa-nin won't know, he won't be able to tell the difference between what was real and what was the genjutsu." Finished kakashi.

If only they knew.

* * *

Naruto was pissed, he worked forever on that genjutsu, he wanted to show it to his parents so they would finally say they were proud of him, and when he finally activated it driving himself to near chakra exhaustion, and natsumi gets all the credit this was just unfair. Natsumi of course denied nothing, granted she didn't know what happened either, but it served its purpose of making her ego even bigger. She even threatened him saying she would put him under her 'super cool genjutsu' if he angered her. He had only one response, he laughed at her the mere thought of natsumi being able to use his own art against him. Natsumi of course cried and told kushina he was picking on her seriously natsumi gets credit for what he does and he gets punished, he couldn't even prove he did the genjutsu at the time he used it he had adrenaline pumping in his body making it to where he could muster up enough chakra to do it.

What's worse natsumi caught on that their parents and teachers at the ninja academy they had recently began going to wouldn't take his word over hers when they stood against each other, especially if she had witnesses (her friends were more than happy to be witnesses for her, even if they weren't there) so natsumi started doing pranks and blaming him. And of course all other children took her side saying he was the perpetrator. Other kids also used him as a scapegoat doing bad things then blaming him and every time he got punished. Because of this he steadily earned the reputation of a troublemaker. making it where people wouldn't believe him in anything what was worse people began to refer to him as the disgrace of the namikaze due to his family's prestige it was heartbreaking. He also would be berated by his parents telling him 'why can't you be like natsumi' resulting in him once blowing up and stating 'because I don't want to blame others for things I did or take credit for things they did'. Which resulted in him being punished whith a week of house arrest (which wasn't that bad of a punishment to him since he has no friends and he could just train in his room the only bad thing about it was it was a punishment) seriously life wasn't fair. (Nope she can be a downright bitch.)

Naruto would learn the true meaning of those words come his seventh birthday.

* * *

**done **

**Man this was one long chapter (for me) I'm glad I'm finally done**

**As you can already guess naruto is going to be STRONG in this fic like godlike towards the end so he'll be strong at early stages of his life so don't get angry about that.**

**Also if your starting to hate naruto's family dont for his parents they don't know what's really going on they're being lied to and are just not investigating more into what seems like cut and dry problems to them. And natsumi she's immature and doesn't understand the full extent of her actions plus she has her ego being fed by an entire village her power being bolstered by a demon and has an extreme case of sibling rivalry with her brother she isn't evil or demented just ignorant, insensitive and cruel like only kids can be.**

**That and all the horrible coincidences can't forget those the universe hates naruto.**

**I'll try to post the next chapter soon dude's till then**

**Stay classy dude's.**


	4. chapter 4 forgotten

**sup dudes it's me**

**Took a few days off after last chapter to catch up on some reading and work in the real world.**

**Also fair warning this chapter will have a bit of Gore in it also a lot of drama (in the ways of what you'll be feeling) thanathos masterfully store this chapter in his own story and while I'm tempted to copy n' paste I will not.**

**I'm still trying to do better on my grammar and stuff but I'm kinda impatient so you'll have to work with me on that till I at least get some more experience or patience, sorry though if I do screw up.**

**These first few chapters belong to thanathos's story God of illusion host of the devils arm.**

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO NEVER HAVE NEVER WILL, PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE DUDES!**

* * *

**Ch4 forgotten**

**Namikaze house Oct 10th**

it was early morning in the namikaze house. currently minato and kushina were asleep in their bed without a care, that is until a presence woke them. Though they relaxed recognizing their daughter's presence. Natsumi then leapt up on the bed and plopped right on top of her father. 'Oof' minato playfully exaggerated the pain of his daughter hopping on top of him. Both parents then looked at their daughter she was wearing winter clothes pants,long sleeved shirt and a jacket, no boots due to the rule of footwear in the house. The reason being winter had come early to konoha and it was a particularly cold one so everyone was expected (by common sense) to bundle up.

Natsumi then smiled at her parents "hurry up mommy daddy wake up its time to go, I wanna see my friends hurry up let's go let's go let's go." Yep same old hyperactive natsumi.

Minato and kushina laughed at their daughter's energy and excitement "okay sweetie okay we're getting up, just give your mom and I a minute to get ready"

"Don't you want to open your presents first honey?" Kushina asked this hoping to stay home a while longer to avoid having to deal with all the young hyperactive children that natsumi called friends.

"Nu-uh they can wait, I wanna go see my friends." Natsumi said this with her usual energy, ignorant of her mother's plight.

Nevertheless the parents dutifully got dressed. All the while natsumi was running around as only one with her stamina and energy could, talking relentlessly to her parents at the same time, taking all her parents attention. then literally dragging both amused parents outside for a day of fun.

* * *

Meanwhile, naruto had just awoken with a tired yawn. He stayed up to much last night working and reading a number of the books lady biwako left after coming over for a routine checkup. They were books about first aid as well as the human anatomy and naruto just couldn't put them down because of his interest in New knowledge. He was also working on his seals and genjutsu, including his _ideal world_ (thanathos's sorry didn't name it in last chapter it's just I won't be using it much due to it not being mine, so don't expect to see it much later) genjutsu, the genjutsu he used on the rock nin, as well as a few others in development. He may have upped his chakra preserves by then to be able to use the genjutsu without being fueled by adrenalin but the event was long forgotten so their was no use presenting the genjutsu he created. Nevertheless he was happy knowing he did something so amazing. After working on genjutsu he worked on seals till finally hitting the hay at three o'clock in the morning.

Admittedly he should have cut back on the late night study session, especially because today was his birthday, but naruto being the studious and knowledge hungry child he was couldn't help himself. Besides it's not like he was going to visit any friends of his since he had none. Besides it seemed he was the first one up if his ears told him right, all he heard was the chirping of birds rustling of leaves and the front door closing. Wait. WHAT! Either that was one weird ass birdcall or that their was a problem.

He quickly rushed to his bedroom window, hoping that his assumptions wouldn't prove correct. Sadly they did, and his heart ached at the sight. His parents along with natsumi were laughing happily and talking. The perfect picture of a happy family as they left the house, as they left and forgot him.

Something then and there snapped inside naruto, no longer was he the genjutsu and fuinjutsu prodigy he had become nor was he the genius that his passion for reading mad him and finally he was not the cool, calm and collected boy that was namikaze naruto, no he was a young boy that was just left behind by his family on his birthday. Due to that his rationality wasn't there, he quickly rushed out of his room, in his thin pajamas and nothing else to protect his small body. He then ran down the stairs towards the door opening it just as the gate closed. He then proceeded to run to the gate, trying to gain his parents attention or catch up to them, he held his left hand out to cushion himself as he ran into the gate (cause he was not slowing down due to his wish to catch his parents) the other hand ready to open the gate to continue his chase after his parents.

However it seemed the universes vendetta against the boy continued. And with naruto's luck nowhere in sight, nothing was there to stop the future changing events that would happen. As minato namikaze made a single handseal.

That handseal activated the security seals for the compound. The first seals such as a sound-blocking seal activated without a hitch. The reason the sound-blocking seal was placed up in the first place was because when naruto and natsumi where babies natsumi would frequently cry, her wails where loud enough to wake up the entire neighbourhood, so minato and kushina set up that particular seal for their sakes. They never removed it because they saw no need to. Something they would learn to regret today.

The reason for the regret was a number of much more complicated seals placed on the gate itself, and which it just so happens were being touched by naruto's little fingers. They really shouldn't have been, so the seals seeing naruto's chakra pathways as an extension of the seal array connected to them and sent a large amount of chakra too large a amount to be safe into naruto's left arm. The chakra caused a violent explosion of chakra through naruto's pathways, violent enough to heavily damage naruto's muscles, veins, bones and most important (in the long run) naruto's chakra pathways. Blood flew splashing the doorway of the gate as naruto's skin was ripped and his arm torn asunder. Naruto screamed as he felt his arm tearing as he felt his muscles being destroyed and his bones crushed. He was then blasted backward due to the backlash, he then deposited himself unceremoniously on the ground. His arm a sack of ground meat, muscles and bone fragments not to mention pain receptors they somehow survived to blast. And they were working over time to do their job.

* * *

Meanwhile with the rest of the namikaze family, minato was looking back at the gate with a frown.

"Honey, something the matter" kushina asked noticing her husband's frown.

Minato looked at his wife and answered "just felt a surge from the gate. Looks like I'll have to checkup on the seals when we get back don't want them failing on us when we need them."

Kushina nodded knowing what a surge could mean. Just then natsumi noticed her parents attention slipping elsewhere. "Mom dad hurry up, you can do whatever it is your talking about later. We're going to ino' s now."

Minato nodded "okay sweetie don't worry, the gate isn't going anywhere I'll check on it when we get back." With that they continued on their way, minato still a little concerned about the surge. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary surges happen, but his gut was seemingly trying to tell him otherwise. His wife seeing he was still worrying kissed as way to calm him, and it worked minato was back to smiling the surge forgotten. Natsumi gagged though seeing her parents being intimate, which earned her a playful slap to the back of the head. All was well, if only they knew.

* * *

Pain, all he felt was indescribable, unbearable, tortuous pain. Every twitch every movement sent this pain wracking through his small frame. Naruto tried standing still and calling out for help, but after a dozen or so minutes with no answers naruto recalled a silencing seal placed on the barrier to the house he would not be getting any help this way. He then looked at his arm to try to scope out the damage his arm took. He immediately turned away from his arm, trying to not cry out in fear. That was his arm? It looked like at torn up husk that once was a arm stuffed with ground meat it was scary when he realized that yes that grotesque pile of destroyed meat attached to him was his arm. He then noticed that it was still bleeding profusely, he would definitely be in trouble if he didn't stop or at least slow the loss of blood.

So naruto tried to get up, with great difficulty due to his injuries as well as the pain, finally with naruto's amazing willpower he managed to get to his feet. He quickly Set his sights on the house to get the bandages and medicine.

Unfortunately for naruto the house goes on lockdown as a second line of defense, so basically the house is virtually inaccessible by any normal means. So naruto wasn't able to get into the house or any supplies that lie within. For instance food, ,bandages, medicine and what would soon be a necessity in this cold weather. Naruto stubbornly continued probing the house looking for any form of access, their was none.

Now he may not be able to get into the house, but he still had to deal with the problem of his bleeding arm. So naruto weighed his options, and after consideration he had no choice. Naruto then proceeded to gently remove his pajama top, luckily the sleeve for the damaged arm was destroyed in the blast otherwise it would be much more painful. After removing the shirt, he then tore off the right sleeve and tied it around the top of his bicep to restrict blood flow. He was very happy to have read up on those medical books, they said that by cutting of the blood flow like he was doing would lessen blood loss and eventually the limb would fall asleep, and the pain would leave something he desperately wanted now. He also wrapped the rest of the pajama top around his arm, using it as a makeshift bandage.

Naruto was already feeling the biting cold, without his shirt and due to the large amount of blood he already lost (and was still losing) naruto was in a very bad position. Still the boy had hope.

"Don't worry naruto everything will be fine. Any minute now they'll realize they left you and come back. Then they'll take you to the hospital and everything will be fine. They'll come, I know they will."

* * *

Minato sighed yet again they had only gone through a few houses in their little mobile birthday party and already he was in chaperone hell. Normally they would send the children outside and let them play while they relaxed. Sadly for them that wasn't the case, since the cunning exams were coming up the Gennin of each individual clan were training their hearts out. And so the yard where the children would currently be was now occupied by various throwing weapons and marks of intense training. Hardly a place for children, so the children had to stay inside, with the parents. The chaos was ridiculous, especially when you consider a good number of them were already training to be ninjas. He was finally able to find his wife amidst the chaos, they having split up earlier to cover more ground to prevent accidents caused by the kids.

Kushina gave her husband a strained smile "they're really energetic aren't they? I can't remember the last time I was this tired or stressed. Give me rogue ninja or even tora over this anyday." And she was one-hundred percent serious. They would of had a change of plans if they knew this is what would be happening."

Minato laughed at his wife's very accurate assessment. "Yeah they're quite rambunctious aren't they?" He then frowned mind going back to gut feeling ever since he felt the surge at the gate "but a can't help but feel like we're forgetting something as well."

Kushina looked at her husband with surprise apparently she had the same problem as him. "You too? I've been having the same feeling, I just can't shake it, nor can I remember what we're forgetting."

Minato sighed "that's the problem with trying to remember what you've forgotten."

"Its right on the tip of my tongue but...NATSUMI NAMIKAZE YOU PUT THAT JAR DOWN RIGHT THIS VERY INSTANT YOUNG LADY!" Kushina snapped at her daughter who poured at being yelled at. But nevertheless followed her mother's orders. Said mother returning to her duties of watching the little hellions.

Meanwhile minato when to apologise to their current host shikaku nara. "Sorry for that, she's really hyper."

The nara clan head just waved him off "don't worry about it, anything of actual significance is locked away where the kids can't get to it."

Minato then looked at the children running about, his wife working to minimize the chaos they brought about. Currently their were half a dozen children running about, which included his and shikaku's own children. The latter being dragged around by his daughters friend ino yamanaka.

He was still worried about the gut feeling he'd been getting ever since he felt the surge at the gate. Wait, could that be it? Was the bad feeling he was getting from the surge of the gate?

Just then he heard the playful screams of the children, seeming to call him back to his duties of babysitter. Minato swore then and there, the second he got to the festival, so the anbu he set up for security during the event could take over to make sure the kids didn't destroy anything. He was finding the closest place that served alcohol, preferably sake, and he was getting shit-faced, wasted, buzzed he didn't give a Damn what people called it, minato namikaze was going be it.

If only he realized just how close he was to finding out the truth.

* * *

Naruto grunted feeling the pain flare in his arm, he was currently moving along the wall of the yard in an attempt to stay with the moving sunlight and his only source of warmth. Once he finally got to the wall the sun was currently shining on, he slid down leaving a line of blood to mark his movement.

Naruto was in hell his arm was still bleeding, though it had lessened in volume thankfully. But that wasn't the end of his problems. His arm was stubbornly refusing to fall asleep, so the relief from the never-ending pain coming from his currently useless limb never came. Agony with every movement every twitch and even breathing was turning into a fairly painful task.

He endeavored to get his mind of the pain, by thinking up various genjutsu ideas along with fuinjutsu formulas. But then a new problem arose he was finding it increasingly difficult to properly think up on his fuinjutsu formulas. He then realized his brain functions as well as his body were slowly shutting down to conserve energy due to loss of blood. While he did give himself a mediocre treatment of first aid that was all it was ment to be, _first _aid, preparation for proper medical specialists to do their job. By no means was his patch job supposed to last for hours like it has. Naruto was running out of time.

So as his body slowly shut-down naruto made sure to stay in view of the front gate. So when his parents came, in a few minutes at most, they would be able to see him and take him to the hospital, they would come and save him.

It was only because of that hope that naruto was able to keep going, able to keep himself awake and alive.

'Don't worry naruto they'll be here soon, mom and dad will come they'll save you.'

He was unable to notice the sun disappear along the horizon and a light snow fall, seeming to give an added effect of sorrow to this already dire situation.

* * *

Of all the things in minato's life nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever caused him this much stress. The war hell no he was trained for that and it was a necessity. The kyuubi that beast actually looked cute in comparison to the hell he was facing now. Not even preparation for what was going to be his own death when sealing the beast came close to this. Visiting every compound they had picked up quite a lot of kids. They're parents saying they would meet them at the festival, that they had to do some work before going. Yeah right they were obviously taking enjoyment in the fact that he and his wife were being forced to watch a pack of little hellraisers, with seemingly endless energy. Minato swore he would get them back for this, somehow.

Finally the salvation that was the festival came into view. As the sun began setting on the horizon and a light snow began falling, it made a very beautiful picture. He wrapped his arm around his wife, both enjoying the magical moment. That is until they heard gagging coming from their daughter. Natsumi seemed to be on a mission to destroy any tender moment that could happen between him and his wife.

"Well what are you looking at us for? Go play and bother someone else." Minato said this in a playful manner despite his irritation. And after hearing his words the children were more than happy to oblige, so they ran off to enjoy the wonders of the festival and give the anbu assigned to watch over the event headaches.

Minato then proceeded to fist-pump "freedom at last, drunken stupor here I come."

Kushina could only shake her head at her husband's excitement at the prospect of drinking, she knew where he was coming from but it was still quite comical.

They then proceeded to the bar where they would meet up with their friends and spent the rest of their time drinking and talking. No mentions of children dared being uttered it was strictly adult time. Well until they went to get their children and watch the much anticipated fireworks show.

Everything was well.

* * *

The world had turned into a big blur, naruto could scarcely make out the shapes of his surroundings. And then the silence naruto could practically hear his own heartbeat get weaker and weaker due to the cold and loss of blood.

The snow that had fallen on him had stopped melting by now. His body temperature no longer enough to melt the miniscule ice crystals. His body was beginning to gain a blanket of white. Naruto lacking the energy to shiver, kept his mind on the one thought that gave him hope, even as his body shut down.

'They'll come, they'll save you. Just wait you'll see, any minute now.'

* * *

Currently the namikaze family was sitting down, natsumi in her father's lap her hands full of food and prizes she had won in the various booths in the festival, they sat there waiting for the best event of the festival.

Natsumi was as happy as she could be, the festival was wonderful. She had gorged herself on the various foods, and won a very large amount of prizes most likely due to her ninja training. And the best part of all was coming up soon. If only she weren't so tired, it was way past her bedtime being midnight and all, not to mention she had been going at full blast since the early morning so even a stamina freak such as her would be tired.

"Dad, how long till the fireworks." Despite the fact she was sleepy she still said this with her normal exuberance.

Minato smiled at his daughter "in five, four." The rest of the crowd the joined him in his countdown for the much waited event.

"Three"

"Two"

"One"

Boom

And with that the first firework went off. Everyone cheered watching the lights show staring in wonder, awe and amazement. Everyone was happy.

Except for one.

* * *

Naruto was suddenly woken up from his trance to the sound of loud booming. His blurred vision was also able to pick up the invasion of color. Though naruto could not see the fireworks properly he knew what they were.

It was midnight.

His birthday was officially over.

Naruto somehow managed to gain a small amount of energy, just enough for a small, hollow laugh.

'They forgot about me, they forgot I even exist. They abandoned me.'

Sure naruto understood his parents might forget him time to time. Most likely due to his ability to blend into the background, in combination with his sister's attention hogging ways. But he would never think that something like this would happen.

Tears escaped naruto's dim eyes, mixing with the ice on his body and freezing along with them. The light was slowly leaving his eyes, and darkness was creeping into his failing vision. Naruto welcomed it be it unconsciousness or death, anything to escape the anguish he was feeling in his heart.

For the first time in his life naruto felt truly alone.

* * *

The fireworks were finally over, the whole show lasting around half an hour. It was time for the namikaze family to set their sights on going home. "Okay sweetie time to head home."

"Awwwwww do we have to tou-san? I'm not even sleepy." Natsumi said this with her eyes half closed and obvious fatigue lacing her voice, so both parents knew she was lying as they set off for home.

But just then a poor went off in they're path and accompanied by it was a large white cloud. Then suddenly a booming voice called out from the cloud.

"MEN FEAR ME, WOMEN LOVE ME, FOR I AM THE GREAT AND MIGHTY SAGE OF " then the cloud of smoke cleared showing a large toad, and riding on its back making a ridiculous pose was an old man in kubuki clothes and spiky white hair. "JIRAIYA THE TOAD SAGE HAS ARRIVED."

Natsumi promptly shouted out "ero-jiji" forcing the man to face-fault feeling his introduction was ruined. "DAMNIT brat how many times have I told you not to call me that." Natsumi only laughed at her godfather.

"So your back sensei guess I'm going to have to send a alert to the bathhouse's" minato said this with amusement. He enjoyed poking fun at his sensei's habits, almost as much as his wife. "So sensei how long have been in the country."

Jiraiya shrugged "a few days, I just got to konoha and I just had to stop and give natsumi her present."

Natsumi's eyes lit up at the prospect of a present "really you got me something ero-jiji."

Jiraiya's eye twitched a little at the nickname but answered "of course who do you think I am."

Kushina took the chance to rib on the super-pervert "a self proclaimed king of perverts."

"Oh ha ha kushina, I'll let that slide because of the alcohol, you know I'm awesome."

He then felt a tug on his leg he looked and natsumi was looking up at him expectantly. "Hey what you get me ero-jiji?"

"Well nothing much, just the once in a lifetime opportunity to sign the toad contract." He said this while pulling out the larger than average object from behind him.

Natsumi's eyes lit up like stars, before she started hopping in joy. "Yay I get to be like daddy and ero-jiji."

Jiraiya then enrolled the scroll and pointed to a blank spot. "Now natsumi I need you to sign your full name, in blood right here and you'll be able to summon toads."

Natsumi blanched a little when she heard she had to sign in blood, but she shrugged it off realizing the rewards were well worth it. So she diligently signed, after she looked at her godfather."Now how do I summon?"

"Your old man will tell you when your ready." Natsumi poured at not being able to summon yet. But she quickly ran off to see her friends and brag about her newest ability.

Jiraiya watched after her smiling before turning to the parents. "Well that settles one of them, now where's the other one the shy little blonde."

Minato and kushina' s faces paled as their faces adopted a look of shocked realization.

"Naruto" kushina silently breathed "we left him at home!"

"He's probably already trashed the house huh." Minato said this weakly trying to calm himself with a bit of humor. It was not working.

Jiraiya blinked simply "you left him at home, I heard he was a troublemaker but couldn't you cut the kid a break? I mean it is his birthday."

Kushina looked at jiraiya her facial features still depicting shock. "We didn't punish him...w-we forgot."

Now jiraiya was shocked "you forgot your own son, on his birthday no less? ...I'm just gonna say it, that's messed up."

Minato whacking tried explaining to his teacher. "I..we...when natsumi...kids..chaos..Shit." but it seems words were failing him at the moment. So he bolted towards his house, kushina following him with natsumi in her arms and jiraiya taking the rear.

Once they reached the gate minato had managed to recompose himself. "So how are we going to explain this to him."

Kushina looked worried "he probably won't forgive us till he's a teenager. We're going to have to make it up to him somehow."

"Well we could start by saying we're sorry." Minato said in a joking manner. Trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm serious minato, he's going to be really upset with us. And I don't blame him he has every right to be. How could we forget him?" Kushina was ready to start crying from the guilt of forgetting her son.

Minato gained a solemn look on his face. "Well we just woke up and natsumi was taking all our attention as she practically dragged us out of the house. Then we had to watch the kids and that took all our attention. After that when we finally got some peace and quiet we spent it drinking and talking with freinds. Nobody even mentioned naruto until jiraiya came."

Kushina nodded "naruto always acts so shy around everyone. Sometimes it's like he just blends into the background. I worry, I don't think naruto has many friends, none of the other children asked about him."

Minato nodded knowing what his wife said to be true. But now the moment of truth they were at the gate all minato had to do was open it. But he was hesitant, the gut feeling he had earlier in the day was coming back with a vengeance.

Jiraiya noticed "what? Worried the kid might of booby-trapped the place to get you back for forgetting him?"

Minato shook his head "no. It's just something feels...off. I remember there was a surge in the gate when we left and I've felt uneasy about it."

Jiraiya looked at his student curiously "really? Well that still doesn't change the fact that we need to get in."

Minato understood and released the seals on the house then with the others stepped in.

They immediately knew something was wrong. Right after the caught the scent of the grounds they were on gaurd. Jiraiya quickly rendered natsumi unconscious, knowing the smell he could tell nothing good would come of this. After all, since when is the coppery smell of blood not foreboding?

It all of kushina's will not to scream after seeing the sight inside. There was blood lots of it, it was decorating the walls with little handprints, just big enough to belong to a seven year old. There was also the odd smear of blood on the wall here and there. Kushina having her motherly instincts kick in feared the worst and ran off. All the while minato and jiraiya simply stared shocked at the scene.

"H-how did this happen? the gate can't be opened once it's on lockdown, anything short of an A-rank jutsu will just bounce of without a scratch." Minato said this in a shaky voice trying to come to terms with what he was seeing." J-just where, where did all this blood come from?"

Meanwhile jiraiya was looking around, then he noticed something. "Minato look, the gate all over the frame there's blood."

Minato looked but it only seemed to confound him more.

Jiraiya meanwhile came up with a hypothesis of what happened. "Minato, is it possible that someone was touching the seals on the gate when you activated them?" Jiraiya said this in a no-nonsense tone hoping he wasn't right on what he assumed happened.

"I-it's possible, but if that happened." Minato's eyes widened in fear. He quickly looked at the front door of the house as to either confirm or disprove his fears. But he saw what he feared was there. There on the door was a number of bloody scratch marks, as if someone with bloody hands tried to open the door.

"N-no, oh God please no." Minato's fears were coming alive as more evidence pointed what he hoped, what he prayed wasn't true.

Just then an anguished cry sounded out from the side of the house and minato dashed of towards the sound of his wife's pained cry. Once again hoping against hope that What he saw when he got there wasn't what he expected to see.

When he got to his wife he saw her crying her eyes out. In her arms was an incredibly still figure. After minato caught a glimpse of his face he knew who it was, it was naruto, it was his son. "Kami have mercy."

* * *

When kushina found naruto he was draped in a thin layer of snow. His skin so pale he practically blended in with the snow. His eyes looked lifeless and empty, and he had a few fresh tears going down his cheeks. Kushina held her son and wailed as any mother would.

Then she heard someone come up behind her. She turned and saw her husband his face etched into a mask of horror, just as hers was. Jiraiya came up quickly behind minato, still carrying natsumi. He took a quick moment to scope out the situation, and seeing both parents frozen in shock he knew he had to take charge.

"HEY" both parents then looked at him. Their anguished faces actually unnerving him a little. "What are you doing! We have to get him to old lady biwako NOW!"

That seemed to snap both parents out of their stuppor. So they go the quickly rushed to the hospital, kushina taking great care no to hurt naruto any more than he already was. Jiraiya had dropped natsumi off at the yamanaka's, stating an family emergency came up and she couldn't stay at the house.

* * *

**at the hospital**

biwako was currently getting ready to go home, and after a long day of helping people who drank more than they could stomach she welcomed it.

Just then she heard a comotion from the hospital entrance and went to see what it was. What she saw shocked and angered her. Minato namikaze and kushina namikaze were there but that wasn't what called forth the emotions of shock and anger, it was what they were holding. It looked like a corpse of a seven year old they just took out of a freezer. And after looking at the 'corpse' she realized it was their son naruto namikaze.

"My God." She was quiet in her words portraying her shock then her face turned into a snarl. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" She said accusingly, after all she saw him yesterday and he was perfectly fine. And children don't go from perfect health one day, to resembling a partially frozen corpse the next without someone doing something wrong. And since it was a parent's duty to look after their child, she was looking at them for answers.

Kushina looked up at the old medic-nin with pleading eyes "please save my son, please help him."

Biwako understanding that now was not the time to ask how he got in this state set to work. "Fine, but I'll be expecting an explanation later." She then checked his pulse it was faint. "Don't ask me how, but he's still alive, barely." She then practically pried the boy out of kushinas arms and placed him on a gurney that another doctor wheeled up to help. She checked him over and tore the makeshift bandage off his left arm, what she saw mad her eyes widen in horror. "Kami" she then noticed his pulse getting weaker. "WE'RE LOSING HIM! Prep me a room asap." She then quickly rushed off with few other doctors that came to offer assistance. All the while minato and kushina were left in the waiting area, staring off after their son with such intensity they didn't even notice jiraiya enter. Both were thinking the same prayer for their son 'please be safe'.

* * *

After several grueling hours of operating and surgery biwako left the room where they operated on the young boy. She set her course for her office, not even taking notice of the three people in the waiting area. She didn't even notice them as they started following her to her office, she didn't care all she cared about was getting something she desperately needed in her office.

A smoke.

Finally she arrived at her office. She then quickly went to her desk opened up one of the drawers, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She then pulled one out, lit it, and inhaled deeply letting the smoke soothe her.

The rest of the rooms occupants were even more worried about this. I known fact was biwako herself was once a smoker like her husband. But she quite after she became a mother. Still their were time she would smoke. Either if something really bad happened or something really good, and given to situation they believed she was smoking due to the former reason. Which was not good. The last time she smoked was when her grandson konohamaru was born, the time before that, when her husband died.

After a few minutes, which to the three other people in the office felt like hours, she looked up. "He'll live."

To the other people it was like a great weight was lifted from their shoulders. Until biwako began speaking again.

"I guess I should give the details before I demand my answers." She then took another puff from her cancer stick before starting.

"He suffered from heavy blood loss, due to a series of wounds located on his left arm. Due to a foreign chakra in the wounds the blood didn't clot and he was nearly bled dry because of it. On top of that he was Damn near frozen to death, parts of him we actually had to thaw out from how cold he was. Against all odds and logic involving the human body we've managed to stabilize him. And luckily the brain has suffered no damage due to the loss of blood and cold." The others were about ready to smile in relief believing the boy would be fine, until biwako rained on their parade again. "That's where the good news ends."

Minato looked at her questioningly. "What do you mean? You said they're was no mental damage, and you've fixed worse knowing you he should be able to make a full recovery. Right?" His answer was a glare which Had him taking a step back.

"No I haven't fixed worse. When you brought him here he looked like a corpse you just took out of a meat freezer, he pretty much died several times while we were operating on him and we had to refill his body with blood since he lost more than a human should be able to survive without. The only reason I haven't fixed worse as normally anyone that was in as bad a condition, or even close to as bad a condition as he was in don't get fixed. They normally end up as residents to the morgue. And who said anything about his mental health, I said his brain didn't suffer any damage. The wounds he had were open for hours, and for him to still be alive means he had to have been conscious a majority of the time in order for him to cling to life like he has. so their will most definitely be mental trauma. He most likely will never be the same again."

Kushina try's giving a solution "c-can't we get a yamanaka to give him counseling, work through this."

Biwako shook her head "I wish it was that simple. But we're not dealing with the memories of what happened but also the physical changes he's gone through."

Now kushina was worried "p-physical changes?"

Biwako looked at them sternly "his career as a ninja is most certainly over. His left arm suffered to much damage. Not only are his muscles destroyed, but also his chakra coils in the arm."

They all looked unnerved by that. Damage to the coils was very serious.

"Not only that the nerves responsible for movement also were heavily damaged. They'll never properly heal, at best hell be able to move it with great difficulty but having it work properly is all but impossible. It's little more than a paperweight now."

The two parents in the room were near tears. Their son practically lost his arm. As if to put a finish on the heartbreaking news biwako gave them all a heated glare and some last words.

"Whatever you did left naruto a cripple, congratulations."

* * *

**whew done**

**Sorry if you guys were waiting for this I just took a break to read some other stories as well as plan out the plot for this one.**

**Also I apologise if this story so far looks like nothing more than a paraphrased version of thanathos's I'm going to start adding my own twists to the story but it isn't going to be 100% my story till like ch 8 or 9 so you'll have to wait again I'm sorry. I to am not happy about this I want to write my own parts in this story instead of copying off of thanathos. But I will not copy and paste his story and I will write every single word in this fic. So please be patient.**

**Anyway until next time.**

**Stay classy dudes **


	5. ch5 change of pace

**hey dude's**

**Sorry this chapter took a little while to post I went away for the holiday and where I went their was no internet. Shocking I know, but I'm back and I'm going to work hard on this latest chapter.**

**So this chapter will show some of my ideas for this story. This is a thanathos chapter but it will have my own flare in it. Also we are not very far away from this story being a story that has my ideas. (No more thanathos driven chapters thankfully) but that is still a few chapters away, so please be patient.**

**Also to everyone that reviewed thank you so much as a single review means alot to me.**

**P.s. to everyone that doesn't review COME ON JUST A FEW NICE WORDS, I SERIOUSLY HAVE LOW SELF ESTEEM DUDES (I'm also lazy) so please review if you have not done so, one word alone will be enough for me.**

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO NEVER HAVE NEVER WILL, PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE THANK YOU.**

* * *

**ch.5 change of pace**

**Hospital**

currently the namikaze parents, plus jiraiya, were all in the office of the head doctor for the hospital, one biwako sarutobi. Currently they were all tensed up, like an animal that was in the presence of a predator that would inevitably attack them. The reason being they had just finished explaining to her how they came to be in the situation they are in now, with one child recently removed from the intensive care area after several grueling hours of surgery and medical treatment. not to mention the loss of function to one of his arms, even if it was still considered a miracle for him to get out with that much. Needless to say she was not happy, and as they explained to her what happened her fury only seemed to get worse and worse, to the point were the other adults cowered and spoke in more strained and fearful tones. Frankly at one point she looked like she was going to pop a blood vessel. That is until her anger seemed to come full-circle and she was now displaying a visage of cold fury which was positively terrifying. Right know they were simply waiting for her to speak, the suspense nearly driving them to hysteria. The only sounds made were kushina's quite sobs, the guilt of everything and verbally repeating what happened bringing tears to both parents eyes.

Finally the silence was ended. "So just to make sure I've got the story straight. I'm going to repeat it back to you, simply so I can come to terms with what happened and make sure I heard you right." She said all this in a dadpan tone, the three other adults only nodded in understanding. They were secretly hoping she would blow up or let some anger into her words but sadly she didn't, the way she was speaking making the atmosphere they were in nerve-wracking.

"So yesterday, October tenth both your children's birthday I might add." The parents winced at the jab. "When you woke up in the morning, your attention was immediately focused on natsumi who woke you and then proceeded to hasten you to get ready so she could see her friends. In your drowsy sleep deprived state, and with your attention being focused solely on your hyperactive daughter. You completely forgot about your son, natsumi's twin, someone who also was supposed to be celebrating their birthday, was sleeping naught but a few feet away. Now I have one question, how in the nine layers of hell did you forget your son? Was his creation at both your hands not notable enough for him to appear on your radar, or does your family have a requirement about how attention grabbing a child must be in order to get their actual parents attention?"

She said all this with increasing emotion in her words breaking out of the previous deadpan. The final part of her guilt trip speech being laced with a combination of anger, exasperation and sarcasm, a peculiar mix but she pulled it off. The parents, hell even jiraiya all looked ashamed of themselves. Kushina's sobs increased in volume and minato's moist eyes let out some tears of their own.

Kushina, despite her sobs, answered. "W-we didn't mean to *sob*. It's j-just naruto is so quite sometimes *sob* it's easy to lose sight of him, especially with natsumi around." Kushina was heartbroken feeling as if she abandoned her child. And the words of biwako made her feel so much worse.

Biwako could not deny that naruto was indeed easy to lose sight of. She herself had that happen to her, not noticing the soft spoken boy until minutes after he enters her presence. And for a former ninja not noticing a child that's in the same room as them, well let's just say he was skilled at unconsciously hiding his presence.

"Anyway, after that you left the house. Then you activated the security seals to the house, insurance to make sure we don't end up having an event like we did a few months back with the iwa-nin. After the seals were activated you felt a surge at the gate. Now why did you not go and investigate? normally people would be more concerned about their security systems."

Minato steeled himself and answered. "You see when their is a surge in a seal network it's more of a notice than a problem. It normally tells you that one of the seals is beginning to fade. The reason I didn't feel the need to check it out is because it could be weeks before the fading seal actually starts to have problems, and my house has countless seals all on the same network I didn't want to scour the entire grounds looking for the one seal I need to renew, I did plan on looking for it but at the time it was not important."

Jiraiya nodded and decided to help back up his student. "Its true, it could have been months before the fading seal started acting up. And surges are queit common when dealing whith that many seals."

Biwako looked at both of them reinstalling the fear that seemed to leave them during their explanation. "Really now? I suppose naruto should be lucky you didn't plan a family vacation for his birthday." They all winced at that.

"Now then where was I? Oh yes you just left the compound, after that you then went to several clan compounds to visit natsumi's friends. And while at those compounds none of the adults or children asked about naruto's whereabouts, not even mentioned him or had a gift for him, anything?" She said the last part with inquisitive concern actually worried about naruto's social presence in other people's life, after all it would be safe to assume that someone should have been able to notice the lack of presence of one of the birthday people. Sadly both parents shook their heads, biwako frowned at this but nevertheless continued.

"And then your attention was focused solely on being chaperones to the hyperactive children to where you couldn't get a moment to even think to have a chance to recall your absent child. Nothing was even able to remind you about naruto, the yamanaka's hair color kushina's eyes the fact that he's natsumi's twin." The adults looked more ashamed at their inability to recall their son, while at what was supposed to be his birthday party as well as his sister's.

"Then after all that you made it to the festival the children went off to play, and you both had finally acquired some FreeTime. Which you then used to get shit-faced drunk and ignore the fact that children exist. Then there is jiraiya who I know has been in the country several days, due to reports of the bath houses in the local area having pervert problems. The godfather of the child in question had decided it be much more fun being a deviant than visiting his godchildren. Meanwhile naruto was left freezing, bleeding out and generally dying while you were all enjoying yourselves. And the only present he received was the end of his career and loss of function in his arm."

All the people in quistion looked about ready to fall apart from guilt. Kushina was sobbing and crying her heart out. Minato looked absolutely ashamed and had a few tears of his own. And jiraiya he looked down with his hair shadowing his face. He realized that he was one crappy godfather he may have had some contact with natsumi, but naruto the most they knew or recalled about each other was their names and how they looked. Apart from that their interaction was completely nonexistent.

"You've all made one hell of a mess, so you deal with it."

"W-what do you mean?" Minato was worried about what she meant, judging from her tone nothing good.

"Simple, in this situation I would hate to be the bearer of such bad news to naruto. So I won't be, that is now your job. Your going to tell him exactly what happened, what happened to his arm the end of his ninja career before it even had a chance to start, and let's not forget the fact that it's all your fault." She finished leveling a harsh glare on them. Telling them no arguments and that this is their punishment for their neglect of the boy.

"If you need me I'll be at the nearest bar after, I get some more cigarettes." Biwako had finished the pack she kept in her desk during the explanation and her speech. She was currently heading out the door to make good on her words, and hopefully find some comfort in this situation from some alcohol. But before she left she had some final parting words. "Good luck" with that she slammed the door shut and left three crestfallen adults in the office.

They didn't know what to do, naruto would already be heartbroken with their apparent abandoning him. When they told him this news, it would most likely destroy any chance to salvage their relationship with him.

They just didn't know what to do.

* * *

**hospital naruto's room**

the still frame of the little seven year old boy lay unimaginably still. His body hooked up to a few blood packs to help replenish his depleted stores. His body almost completely covered in blankets, to warm him from the hypothermia he recently experienced, all except his head and his arm. Said limb looking like a club covered in so many bandages to insure that no more damage could possibly befall it.

Suddenly the boy began to move, the movements were small and weak. Slowly he opened his eyes, they were dull almost lifeless and uncaring. He looked around trying to find out where he was and recall what happened. Then it all came back to him. His birthday was over, his parents abandoned him and his arm. Naruto weakly turned to look at the appendage he no longer saw the gnarled and tore up meat no all he saw were bandages. It felt kinda funny he couldn't feel his arm, which he was quite thankful for it still must have hurt like hell, it was almost like his left arm was just a growth on bis body they covered in gauze. Like it was not supposed to be there, it was kinda alien not feeling the limb.

Then he remembered why he was there. He was left, discarded, forgotten he knew deep down that thing's were bad. Hardly anyone knew he existed or more likely no one cared about his existence. It was always natsumi and he was always in her shadow when he tried to break out he was reprimanded, punished and put back in it. The only attention he got nowadays was negative attention, from being used as a scapegoat by his sister and other children. But deep down he thought his parents will always be their for him they cared about him. Sure they lost sight of him every now and then because of work and natsumi's rambunctious behaviour. But they would always remember him and care about him. What a fool he had been, his parents were no different he had no identity. His name naruto namikaze no one cared or remembered. He was purposeless he had no friends and his parents, well he could see how much he lingered in their thoughts if he simply looked to the left. He was alone he had no one to count on. Idly he wondered if he had died from last night's events how many people would come to his funeral, and for what reason. Pity 'poor boy forgotten by his parents and died might as well go to his funeral cause no one else cares'. Principal his parents friends would probably come for that reason. Then there's guilt the reason his parents would come. he died so they would have to come or end up looking like a piece of shit or have guilt eat away at you. Not because of love or mourning not because they were his friends or they would miss him no, they would come to respect the dead not mourn the person who was lost. He realized now he was alone, him against the world. And the thing was.

He couldn't give a Damn.

Some people would be heartbroken, but him he made peace with this when he gave into the darkness after the fireworks went out. what could he do but accept he was alone, and if he wanted love, recognition, friendship or at the very least a purpose. He was going to have to rely on himself to get them because relying on someone else and trusting his heart with them, without getting recognition from them first was going to end up with his heart getting broken.

Just then his door opened and naruto saw a the familiar silhouettes of his parents. Funny he wasn't angry, sad or happy, no feelings you would expect in this situation. He was just disinterested like taking notice of something in his personnel area. But despite feeling no real emotion seeing them brought a dull ache in his chest as if the emotions he wanted to feel we're trying to get out, before they were pushed back down by a boy who's spirit just couldn't take them right now.

While naruto was dealing with his own emotional chaos the parents were not faring much better. They were overwhelmed with a myriad of emotions. Guilt at seeing their son in such a state and knowing it was their fault, sadness because of the situation, and finally fear of how naruto will react. They were also worried because he woke up so soon, biwako said he wouldn't wake up until he got through the shock and came to terms with what happened. If this was a good sign or a bad one they sure as hell didn't know.

Minato took the initiative and started conversation. "H-hi naruto".

Naruto just lay still the only movement on him were his pupils moving from the ceiling to see his parents then moving them back to staring at the ceiling.

Minato wanted to sigh. His attempt to open dialogue was kinda crappy, but the silence was unnerving him especially with the situation being what it was, he just couldn't find the right words to say.

Kushina followed up her husband with her own attempt. "How are you feeling?" Naruto's answer was having his eyes zero in on her, in what the parents could only assume was his attempt at a deadpan stare. As if to ask 'what the hell do you think' kushina silently cursed herself for her stupid quistion as naruto's eyes went back to focusing on the ceiling.

Naruto blinked a few times before letting out a breath and admin. "How long?"

The parents practically jumped when he spoke, they were happy he talked but the lack of emotion in his voice was something they prepared for. Anger, sadness even hate but just plain nothing, it was unnerving. Anyways they were curious as what naruto meant. "H-how long until what?"

Naruto finally turned his head to them. "Until my arm is healed."

Minato didn't have the courage to tell the truth, his wife was in the same boat. "It... it'll take awhile I'm afraid, your going to have to learn to make do with one arm." They hated themselves for not telling him the truth, but they didn't have the strength to utter it.

Naruto merely made a barely noticeable nod, and then went back to staring at the ceiling his acknowledgement of his parents presence ended. Naruto knew it would take time from what he saw, you didn't need to be a doctor to tell his arm wouldn't be healed for awhile.

Kushina fidgeted, she couldn't take the silence. She would have preferred for him to get angry at her, at them. But he didn't he just looked at them with his lifeless eyes that caused her more pain than any words ever could.

"N-naruto, honey, p-please speak to us." She was about ready to break down.

Naruto turned his head and stared at them, uncaring and unfeeling eyes bore into them as if judging them. Finally naruto spoke. "Where were you?"

Those three words, sad to say neither parent could scrounge up an answer. At least a truthful one they would be willing to tell him. "I-I... w-we...w-where." They found them stumbling over their words. Compelled to say something even if it was only nonsense.

Naruto continued "I waited, I waited for you to come save me. I saw the fireworks. You didn't come, you didn't save me." After those words naruto closed his eyes turned away and went to sleep.

All the while both parents were speechless. He waited for them, all the way till midnight, in what could only be described as a tortuous hell. Freezing to death, bleeding to death and his arm tore to splinters. He started conscious through it all, felt every twitch of pain caused by the damage done to his young body. All while waiting, hoping they would come to save him.

Both parents were shocked and appalled. They truly had abandoned him. Kushina didn't even have the strength to cry at this new development. She then felt her husband's hand on her shoulder.

"Kushina...I, think we should go." Kushina simply nodded, unable to speak. Both parents left their son alone to recuperate.

That night neither parents slept they simply stared at the ceiling, laying down next to each other with tears falling from their eyes.

* * *

Several days later naruto was cleared to leave the hospital. He was given clear instruction he was not to use his arm for anything strenuous. No channelling chakra no exercising, naruto accepted the terms knowing what to expect.

He of course was going to continue his ninja training. Sure he wasn't going to use his arm but everywhere else was fair game. Also he could practice many things without his arm for instance genjutsu, fuinjutsu, chakra control he could also work on brainstorming for seal and genjutsu, he even did brainstorming for ninjutsu as well. Also he had his hobbies drawing and painting. They helped calm him as well as help his imagination, finger control (necessary for properly throwing weapons weapons and swordmanship) and it helped his calligraphy for seals. Though, sadly enough his art didn't really last. He still kept the practice of destroying his work, for his paintings he developed seals that literally sucked the paint back into their containers. Not a very impressive seal for veterans but for a child at the age of seven to create seals of that level without a proper teacher was amazing.

But to his parents seeing that was a little disturbing. Seeing him in front of a blank canvas with his dulled eyes, it was like he was broken. Such thoughts only added to their guilt.

His arm was quite a hindrance not only was his upper body strength deteriorating with the only excessive he could do for it being sit-ups. But he was also barred from the regular lessons he would have with his parents. That meant no taijutsu, kenjutsu or ninjutsu lessons. And that meant natsumi was getting ahead of him, she being able to continue them due to lack of injury, also since his parents were now focused solely on her.

Remembering when he first went to the lessons still left a bad taste in his mouth.

* * *

_Flashback _

_Naruto was walking behind natsumi to enter the dojo, he was then stopped by his mother._

_"I'm sorry naruto, but you can't take lessons right now." _

_"Why not?" Naruto said this in the same monotone that had become the norm for him when talking to his family._

_"Its just, you can't properly train in kenjutsu with your arm like that you can't even properly fight or defend yourself."_

_Naruto narrowed his eyes in frustration and anger. "And who do I have to thank for that?" He allowed a bit of anger in his voice he knew his mother had a point, but he was just angry at the situation. He needed an outlet something to get angry at, and since getting angry at his own appendage was idiotic he was angry at his parents._

_Naruto quickly turned and left not noticing the hurt look in his mother's eyes. A few hours later the same scene unfolded when he went to ninjutsu practice._

_After that both parents tried to gather the courage to tell naruto the truth. Sadly they couldn't, they were just so fearful of how naruto would react. It was also part of the reason they didn't train him at all. After all the could just have had naruto read books for taijutsu and kenjutsu to get various katas and fighting knowledge in his head, __And for ninjutsu he could do chakra control or learn some of the bookworm for it. They just didn't want naruto to run away without ninja training he would be more likely to stay in the village. After all naruto was smart, he would know wether or not he could take care of himself in the wild. God they felt pathetic holding back their own child to try to make up for their own mistakes._

* * *

_flashback end_

despite the training though minato and kushina tried to always be by naruto. Their was constantly one of them chaperoneing the crippled boy. Unless it was time for the now natsumi exclusive ninja training or their ninja work. They were constantly giving him attention and offering to help him with every little thing.

Naruto hated it, only a few days ago it would of meant the world to him. Having his parents attention to such a degree. But now it angered him, or more accurately it annoyed him. He saw their newfound care for him being because of their guilty conscience, not because he was their son or because they love him. Though he did find use for their guilty conscience, mainly getting written permission from his father to gain access to the library. Thanks to that he had an excuse spend as much time as he could away from the house and his family. He was also able to get a hold on valuable information. The library held countless books info on foreign countries, laws, history, science it also held invaluable information for ninjas. Nothing to advanced a few chakra control exercises he could use knowledge to help him develop his muscles and proper hand to hand fighting theory. Naruto made sure to remember to get some weights due to how they could help him catch up to his sister in the physical aspects of being a ninja as he recently started falling behind in that area due to his injury.

It was also invaluable helping him learn fuinjutsu and to a lesser extent genjutsu. For genjutsu their were books for various effects he could implement as well as exercises to help him with casting genjutsu. But on fuinjutsu it had a much larger reserve of information. Thanks to this he had greatly increased his understanding of seals, even master level fuinjutsu users would have a hard time finding a rule in fuinjutsu naruto didn't. Not to say naruto's practical application of seals was master level, it was impressive for his age but he had a good many years to go before he did anything of notice in the realm of fuinjutsu creation.

Another reason he was so adamant about staying away from his family was natsumi. She was becoming unbearable. She was smart enough to stop doing the scapegoat routine on him, she also didn't do anything other than give him dirty looks in their parents presence. But when they were alone she frequently insulted him taking shots at his injury making fun of him and rubbing in his face the fact that she could still train. She was most likely angry that their parents now gave him a good amount of attention, that and she could no longer blame him for her pranks.

Naruto May not have shown it but natsumi's actions and words hurt. He couldn't understand why she hated him so. They used to actually have a good brother-sister relationship they played with each other and spent time together like the twins they were. But then natsumi just started to get meaner and meaner to him, as if he had done something wrong. Naruto never really did anything of malicious intent to her to warrant this, in fact at the start of this he tried being extra nice to her to get on her good side and appease her incase he actually did do something wrong. But alas his sister continued being cruel to him to the point she treated him like she hated him, and with the way she acted naruto thought that might be the case. Throughout all this though he hoped deep down that maybe natsumi would go back to how she was before and simply accept him having a place in the family, and stop acting like they being siblings was a battle for their parents attention. But sadly it seemed like that would never come to be, and with his crippling he wasn't even sure if that was something he wanted anymore.

A place in the family.

There were other things he learned by leaving the house. While walking the streets he noticed few people, mostly shinobi, looked at him with pity. He didn't understand why I mean sure news of him and his traumatic event had probably got out to the public. But that wasn't a reason for people to look upon him like that, was it? He just told himself they just did so because they felt the need to do so, nothing more, nothing less.

Well until something happened that gave him doubt towards that explanation. He was simply walking through the forested area of konoha, then he suddenly stumbled upon a training ground. In said training ground were two ninjas, uchiha's by the looks of them. They bore the uchiha's trademark black eyes (when the sharingan was not activated) and clothes with the uchiha fan on them.

They looked to be having a heated spar fighting using the uchiha's taijutsu style the interceptor fist as well as using jutsu from time to time. Naruto being entranced by the high level spar forgot the unspoken rule of not looking in on ninjas training. It was greatly frowned upon looking in on other ninjas training, it was only allowed if you were either given permission, of the same family, or a teacher or superior to those training. This unspoken rule however was greatly enforced by the ninja clans of the village, especially the uchiha and hyuga. The hyuga even went so far as to treat their gentle fist fighting style with the same reverence as a religion, so by their words to spy on a hyuga's training was blasphemy. So it was well know if you stumble upon an uchiha or hyuga training, you hightail it out of there. unless of course your a masochist or suicidal in which case by all means stay.

Naruto was of course neither but he was so entranced he couldn't look away from the display of high class ninja skill. Just then the uchiha noticed a foreign presence, they turned to it ready to beat the crap out of whoever was spying on their training. Only to stop after seeing who it was.

Naruto was scared after seeing them turn to him with such angry eyes, that was followed by confusion after their expressions changed to one's of pity. Why? Why we're they looking at him with pity? The uchiha's turned back to their training simply ignoring the boys presence, that only spurred naruto's confusion. Sure he could understand them not making things physical because he was just a kid and his arm was in a sling. But why let him continue watching? He may have been a kid but that was no exception they would at least ask him to leave, after all kids his age were already in the academy. So why run the risk of him figuring out their secrets? Naruto got a bad feeling when thinking why, so he simply dropped it and admired the display of skill in front of him while mentally taking notes he would ponder on it later.

What he didn't know was that while news of his accident did indeed start circulating. These people had a bit more information on the matter than he did. They knew that the hokages son would never regain use of his arm or become a ninja. They did not speak of it outside of privacy due to the tragedy of the event. They especially didn't speak of it in the boys presence in fear of hurting his feelings, neither did they tell the information to children due to how delicate the matter was. They already assumed he was in depression because of it, and naruto gave no signs for them to think differently.

The reason the ninja let him watch was because they saw a poor boy who watched them due to a longing. A longing for a life he could no longer have due to a crippling injury. They felt they could at least allow him this after all he was just a boy. A boy that had such a terrible tragedy befall him.

All the while naruto continued to watch. His interest may have been in genjutsu and fuinjutsu but that was no reason to focus entirely on that. Naruto planned to be skilled in all traits of being a ninja, so naruto endeavored to train in taijutsu, kenjutsu and ninjutsu along with his specialties. After all a specialized ninja was a dead ninja, meaning if a ninja only focused on one area they would be dooming themselves.

After a while naruto decided to leave and head home, it was time to get back to polishing up his own skills.

Naruto had come a long way in his seals, he was good enough to were he could start crafting his own seals. He may not have been able to create or craft any real high class seals. when it came to making seals that were already created (explosive seals storage seals etc.) He was at an intermediate level. Seal crafting however he was as green as a grasshoppers ass, he would need much more practice and experimentation before he made any of his big ideas for seals.

Two of his ideas really stood out. the first seal or more precise system of seals was for the sake of creating enhanced speed for the person they're attached to. They are supposed to make it so a human can go at incomprehensible speed, speed that perhaps could rival his father's hiraishin jutsu. It would also need to make it to were a humans body could endure such speeds.

The second seal was a much simpler of an idea, the seal would be for greatly enhancing someone's chakra control. While that was simpler sounding it would be much harder to make it a reality, due to the fact it would incorporate the entire chakra circulatory system so it would be much harder to create but worth it. The reason it would be worth it is what could be accomplished with the enhanced control. Tsunade senju of the sannin could attain super strength through her control, it also had its uses for genjutsu and ninjutsu mainly the elimination of handseals. For genjutsu one can get good enough that they no longer need them but they need great understanding of the particular genjutsu to do so, through this seal that process would be greatly sped up. Ninjutsu is a bit different handseals are critical when it comes to shaping them. But it was not well known that if someone was skilled enough in a jutsu they could actually reduce the number of handseals necessary to perform them. A great example for this was the second hokage tobirama senju. A man revered for his ability in _suiton_ manipulation. It was said he could do high level water manipulation ninjutsu with just a few handseals a mere fraction of the standard necessary. Mid to low class suiton ninjutsu only required a single handseal from him two at the most, for a few of the low level ones he could even do them through pure chakra manipulation. He was able to do ninjutsu without handseals, that was what naruto saught to achieve. He wanted control of his chakra to such a high level he could manipulate his chakra to be able to do jutsu without the guidance of handseals. He wanted to do it at a level to where he would be able to manipulate the very elements themselves with the only requirement being learning to manipulate his chakra for the element he desired, plus a little practice of course. Not just for a single element but all of them the ability to conjure lighting at will from his bare hands the ability to send a storm of wind blades with but a wave of his hands. Not to forget the ability to empower his body to a much greater efficiency. The abilities he could posses were so captivating naruto nearly broke into a fit of giggles at the posibilities.(Also just a heads up I will probably give naruto these abilities in some of my future fics. I will most likely have him obtain them through other means but the ability will be the same. It's just a really cool idea)

Now naruto was no fool he knew it would take years for him to create such powerful seals. Imagination was simply the first part, he would need a great deal of planning, brainstorming and experimentation before he could make prototype seals that even resembled what he taught to attain with the final product. But he would see that he would one day create these seals. Plus he could use the shadow clone-jutsu to speed things up.

Then there was genjutsu. He made a bit of a breakthrough in this area by creating a new and useful genjutsu. He called it mekura (thanathos's not mine. But necessary for the story.) the genjutsu was made so people under it would just ignore or overlook the caster. If they were to see him they would treat him as if he was in the background, if they heard him they would act like they didn't hear anything more than the wind. They would unconsciously walk around him all the while being none the wiser to his presence. They would also ignore signs of his presence instance footprints. But it wouldn't work if he tripped a security system or hit someone that would of course let the people know what's up.

Right now though he was working on finding a new catalyst to cast his genjutsu with little success.

* * *

**a few weeks later**

naruto's bones had finally healed, thanks in no small part to biwako's checkups on the boy. Unfortunetly he still couldn't move the Damn thing. Apparently the nerves were still shot so he was forced to were a sling to put his arm in.

But nevertheless things were starting to look up for naruto. He was making good progress on his sealing and genjutsu, his arm was on its way to healing. And the best thing that happened to naruto was the fact that naruto made his first friend. The memory alone was enough to make him smile.

* * *

_flashback_

naruto was currently walking back home after his normal visit to the library. He was heading home because he knew it would currently be empty. Natsumi would most likely be at a friend's house, his mother visiting some freinds of her own after dropping her off, and his father had his duties as hokage. Naruto was still being scarce when it came to his family, he still felt betrayed by them but he also felt vulnerable like a turtle that refused to come out of its shell due to its harsh experiences with the outside world. Naruto used his newfound lack of emotions to protect him, and he avoided his Parents who were trying to reconnect with him because they were slowly taking away that defense. Naruto didn't know if His heart could take it if he let them in again only to once again be betrayed by them.

Naruto suddenly realized he had gone on autopilot with his thoughts and ended up taking a longer rout back home. After he got his senses back from his deep thinking he also realized he was in th shinobi residential district, his home was currently on the other side due to his route taking him to the opposite end. The shinobi residential district housed a number of the clan compounds as well as a few shinobi only apartments, it didn't house every ninja in the village but the facilities it did have we're helpful to ninja that wanted a residence that they could leave for extended periods of time because of missions and not wind up being bothered by the landlord if they missed a payment. It was really just residences that had a shinobis lifestyle in mind when it came to the treatment of the tenants.

He was also able to realize their was a commotion going on in an alleyway just ahead of him. It was midday so the streets were empty the ninja residents off at their jobs or training or simply staying home for some r&r. Naruto had his curiosity piqued wandering what could be happening in the alleyway and decided to check it out.

What he saw when he got to the alley was a group of three kids. Inuzukas by the looks of them from the clan markings and the feral appearances. Two of them looked around naruto's age maybe a year older or so, the last and whom naruto assumed was the 'alpha' of the group looked like he was entering his final year into the academy. The we're all gathered at the end of the alleyway by a space in the wall between two buildings, big enough for someone to place their arm in but not enter. The space went in for a few feet but it didn't go all the way out to the other side of the buildings as they seemed to join after a few feet. They seemed to be trying to get something in this space, all the while growling obscenities. Naruto had a bad feeling in his gut, call him paranoid but when a group of thuggish looking kids gather up looking like they were gonna kick someone's ass and they were trying to get a hold of something that should send up a few red flags in your head. Naruto got a bit closer to find out what they were doing or at least what was in the space that they were so adamant about getting. Then he saw what it was in the space and naruto understood what was going on, and it made him very angry.

In the space was a kitten, a small pitch black kitten. The poor thing looked scared to death as well as tired from evading its pursuers. It also looked injured with the way it kept its left front paw off the ground. It seemed like the inuzukas saught to do the little kitten harm.

It was a widely known fact that inuzukas didn't like cats. They didn't really hate them it was more like an aversion. Like how cats would avoid water or children avoided vegetables. It was seemingly ingrained in their DNA, now not all inuzukas disliked cats some were very tolerant of them. After all you couldn't run a vet without being tolerant of all animals. Sadly while some got rid of their dislike of cats some took it a step further and downright hated the creatures. More often than naught this was caused by a bad run in with the infamous tora, but a few naturally just had that level of dislike for them. But they usually didn't let it get anywhere near physically hurting the animals they were smart enough not to stoop that low, not to mention an inuzuka unspoken rule that animal abuse would NOT be tolerated. To them animal cruelty was equivalent in shame to thievery if not worse.

But apparently these punks were different they were apparently the type that hated cats and held no qualms when it came to going beyond simple verbal admittance. And that made naruto very very pissed off. Their was a few things naruto could not stand, rape, animal cruelty, abusing women, bullying or Mindless violence and hate. And since those punks were doing three out of five he wouldn't stand idle.

"HEY" the three bullies stopped trying to get a hold of the helpless kitten and turned to see addressed them. They saw a seven year old boy with long slightly spiked dirty golden hair slightly obscuring his amethyst eyes that were attached to a feminine face that still had quite a bit of baby fat due to his young age.(yes naruto is going to be a bit of a pretty boy p.s for his hairstyle think ichigo's when he fought aizen only dirty blonde in color). He also had his left arm in a sling.

"What do you want kid?" The bullies said this menacingly trying to scare naruto off, it didn't work.

"What the hell do you think your doing to that poor kitten?" Naruto levelled an icy glare at the group thugs knowing exactly what they were doing.

"I don't see how that's any of your business brat." The head bully was starting to get angry.

"It is my business when three punks gang up on a defenseless animal" by now the kitten also took notice of the knew boy.

"What did you just say you little bastard!?" The bullies obviously took offense to naruto's words despite the truth in them.

"You heard me, are you deaf as well as cowards?" Naruto knew that this would most likely come to blows. Despite being outnumbered by a group of elder boys, he would not stand for this. So he being outnumbered and currently crippled with one arm saught to even the playing field by blinding them with anger. He may have been confident in having more skill than them, because he doubted such thuggish punks would have any finesse or skill despite being older than him and most likely being trained in the ninja arts, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

"BASTARD!" Just as naruto predicted the head bully came running at him, abandoning any form of style. his fist right fist held out for a sloppy haymaker. He most likely assumed naruto was not a threat due to his injury. Therefore in his anger abandoned any skills he had as well as caution and aimed to hit naruto with a brawler like punch.

His greatest mistake was underestimating naruto. Naruto waited until the fist was a few inches away from his face, he then spun one-hundred-eighty degrees counter-clockwise evading the fist and turning his back to the bully. The bullies eyes widened as naruto near effortlessly dodged the punch. Naruto then raised his right arm aiming his elbow at the bullies nose, due to the momentum of the bullies charge and naruto's strength the nose was broken. The bully quickly recoiled moving his hands to his nose and closing his eyes trying to alleviate the pain, rookie mistake. Naruto then placed his right leg behind the bullies left leg and grabbed his face with the Palm of his hand, he the turned 180 degrees clockwise while throwing the bully on his back. Not taking a chance of his biggest threat getting up again, naruto then struck the older boy in the diaphragm with a downwards axe kick. The force wasn't enough to break any ribs but enough to send the punk into sweet unconsciousness from the pain, luckily his head turned to the side as his lights went out otherwise the blood from his broken nose might have entered his mouth and choked him. The entire bout lasted less than a dozen seconds and naruto was right back in the same place he was in the beginning.

The other two bullies, who had stayed where they were believing their friend could handle the brat, could only stare wide eyed as their friend was so easily beaten. Hell even the kitten, who noticed its pursuers were distracted and peaked out of its hiding spot, was staring in interested awe.

Just then one of the bullies managed to break out of his stupor "AKAINU, you sunuva bitch! You'll pay for that!"

Naruto just stared at them with a glare of cold fury. He then spoke in a calm yet dangerous tone "Really now? In that case, come." Naruto then gave them the 'bring it' gesture with his right hand.

One bully immediately ran off to attack naruto blinded by rage, the other was a little more hesitant but soon followed. Naruto waited a moment then shot off with surprising speed. The bullies eyes widened in shock before they changed to a look of pain as naruto jumped and planted both his feet into the boys chest. The was practically blasted backwards due to naruto's increased leg strength. Since naruto couldn't exercise his upper body because of his arm. he focused on his legs and abs, doing basic sit-ups for his abs and for his legs a multitude of exercises to increase strength speed and flexibility. Needless to say the punk would not be getting back up.

The other degenerate attempted a wild Haymarket as naruto landed but he ducked under it without even stopping, going behind the bully. He tried to spin around to continue the fight with naruto but naruto already had his right leg in motion, his foot ended up planted in the boys jaw rattling his brain and lifting him of his feet. Naruto showing no mercy to the animal abusers threw his right fist forward placing all his weight into the blow. The bully received it right In his stomach, he was out of the fight on account of the fact that he was to busy keeping the contents of his stomach IN his stomach.

Naruto seeing how his opponents would not be getting up to fight again he walked over to the least damaged of the thugs. The one who received the pair of feet plant is into his sternum, he was currently on his hands and knees trying to get air back into his lungs after his ribcage was compressed from the force of naruto's blow.

Naruto then roughly grabbed the boys hair and pulled his face up to look him in the eye. The thug was scared, a single kid younger than all of them single handedly kicked their asses without receiving so much as a scratch, and he was now giving him a glare that could freeze hell.

"P-please don't hurt me."

Naruto simply spoke to him in a tone that could scare full grown adults. "Fine, under one condition. I never see you or your punk friends again, understand."

The boy nodded his head as best he could with it being in naruto's firm grip. "Y-yes anything you say, j-just let me go."

Naruto then gave a smile that frankly scared the boy more than the glare. He then spoke as if he was speaking to a dog. "Good boy, now scream." With that naruto let go of his hair allowing the bully to scramble to his feet and run over to his still conscious friend so the could pick up their unconscious one and make a hasty retreat.

Naruto could only shake his head at the cowardice, so willing to hurt something weaker than them but against something stronger they run with their tails between their legs. He then looked towards the kitten to see it vacated its hiding spot, seemingly trying to witness the spectacle that just unfolded. Naruto walked towards the hurt kitten to help it. But the kitten sensing his approach backed against the wall and hissed at him in defense a common action for a weakened animal.

"Easy I won't hurt you, let's take a look at that paw okay." Naruto stuck his hand out to check the kittens injured left leg. The cats fight or flight instincts kicked in, and it chose fight it lunged at naruto's hand sinking its teeth in him. Naruto recoiled in pain, the kitten seeing its chance at escape tried running away. Only to fall due to the injury on its leg, it closed its eyes waiting to be attacked by the boy in retaliation. Only to open its eyes as it was gently picked up and placed on naruto's crippled arm that lied in its sling to keep it and now the kitten up. The kitten looked up expecting to see a look of anger, it instead was met with a kind and compassionate smile that would warm ones heart.

"It's okay, I understand how frightening it is to be hurt and all alone. But please, will you let me help you?" The tone in naruto's voice was filled with kindness and warmth for the little kitten. He felt a bond with this little creature remembering how he felt on that cold October night during his birthday, and so he wanted nothing more than to help the little kitten. The kitten understanding naruto's intentions relaxed in his embrace, naruto smiled at this.

"Thank you" he then used his right hand to elevate its left paw so he could examine it. The kitten's eyes scrunched up in pain it even let out a pained *mew*(cat sound). Naruto saw a tear wound most likely caused when the kitten ran away from the bullies. "This will need to be bandaged and disinfected, I could take you to my house and do it if you want." The kitten gave a *mew* as if to say yes. Naruto smiled and quickly walked home careful not aggravate the little kittens wound.

Naruto soon arrived home, as he expected no one was home. He took the kitten up to his room and gently placed it on the bed. "Wait here okay" naruto then proceeded to go into the bathroom that was connected to his room and got some bandages and supplies to disinfect the kittens wound. He came back to see the kitten looking around his room curiously. Naruto Sat next to it on the bed and lifted its injured paw onto his leg, and picked up the disinfectant in his hand.

"This is going to sting a little okay." He then applied a little of it to the kittens wound, it flinched a little and scrunched its eyes in pain but that was it. Naruto then proceeded to bandage the wound as best as he could. The end result was a neatly bandaged limb. The kitten meowed in appreciation.

"I guess your hungry to, wait here and I'll get you something to eat." Naruto quickly went to the kitchen to get the kitten something to eat. He prepared some fish for the adorable little cat. He came back and placed the plate in front of the feline so she could eat. The kitten must have been quite hungry because it quickly dug in, naruto occupied himself with petting its midnight black fur.

Then naruto felt something around the kittens neck. It was a collar he examined it and found a metal plate on the front. Engraved on the plate was the word 'Kurohime'.

"Is this your name? Kurohime." The now named Kurohime looked up from the now barren plate and meowed in confirmation.

"That's a pretty name, I guess it also means your a girl huh." Naruto then thought of something. "Do you have on owner?" The kitten shook her head in negative, naruto was impressed how the kitten could understand him so well. But he focused on the fact that this kitten had nowhere to go.

"In that case, you could stay here if you want. I'd take care of you." The kittens answer was to get up walk onto naruto's lap and start rubbing itself affectionately on him. Naruto could only laugh and smile in happiness "I guess that's a yes. You know this also makes us friends." Kurohime meowed in happiness "here's to you being my first friend hime-chan"

* * *

_end flashback_

since then naruto and Kurohime had been inseparable. Spending almost all their time together. His family didn't know about her because of a healthy use of _mekura_to keep her secret, natsumi had been constantly under the genjutsu since he created it. The only time they were separated was when naruto trained and she would wonder off to explore or exercise, but she would always come back and they would come home together.

His parents still often tried connecting with him, but naruto was still very resistant to their advances. Also natsumi had become more of a brat than usual in an attempt to get their parents refocused on her, and it worked. Those two factors made things slowly return to how they were before. His parents still tried to be their for him and give attention. Naruto was still distant with them but he was slowly starting to become more accepting of their efforts. He apparently still had an urge, as all children do, to trust his parents.

* * *

Naruto was in a good mood, his arm was finally showing signs of healing. He had finally been able to pick something up, granted it took a few minutes and a whole lot of effort but it was an improvement. He was so happy, he couldn't wait till he was finally healed so he could start really training again. Sure having all this time to learn and brainstorm was good but he wanted to get back to the physical aspect as well as learn some jutsu.

That night naruto, with Kurohime laying on his chest as it was her new favorite napping spot, dreamt of when his arm would finally be healed.

Never knowing the events the next morning would bring.

* * *

**whoo I did it dude's**

**So as you can see I've started making my own additions to the story I hope you like em. Also a reminder we are still not up to the chapters that come from my imagination alone those come a little later.**

**To everyone who is worried I'll abandon this story don't. I've got it already planned out all I need is time to type it out I will not abandon this story.**

**So anyway**

** Stay classy dudes.**


	6. Chapter 6 rebirth

**sup dudes**

**There's something I want to say.**

**I'm sorry. So far in this story I've done nothing but rewrite thanathos's work, sure I've put in a few tiny changes, some may have actual significance some not. But this still is just my rewritten version of a good story, and for that I'm truly sorry. I won't make excuses but I would still like to explain myself. The reason it's so similar is because a lot of the things that happened in thanathos's story need to happen in this one as well to set up what I want to do with this story. Also since I'm new to this whole fanfic writing thing, I decided to go with one of my more unoriginal ideas so I could get the hang of this, therefore I decided to continue a abandoned fic I really liked. Finally the reason I asked for reviews is not to have you compliment me on my amazing story making skills (since I haven't shown any yet) but rather to tell me I'm doing alright with my grammar, writing style and also to tell me that people are interested in reading what I intend to do for this story. I'll do my best to hurry up so I can get to the part that came strictly from my own imagination, but like I said their are still parts of the plot from thanathos's story that I need to write in order to make this story the best I can make it. Once again I am sorry for coming off as unimaginative and as a story stealer.**

**Sincerest apologies from: that dude you know**

**P.s : I'm still writing this, this is just an apology note.**

**Anyway soon I'll be putting out my own chapters for this, please put up with me until then.**

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO NEVER HAVE NEVER WILL, PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE**

* * *

**ch:6 rebirth**

It was currently early morning in the namikaze household. Our young hero Naruto was slowly starting to wake. As soon as he gained the proper consciousness necessary to feel his body he realized something, he was in a shitload of pain. His skin felt like it was about to fall off, his muscles were crying out in pain, his head felt like an overstuffed suitcase ready to burst open at the seems. All of that was just the most prominent of the suffering body parts on the young boys person. Sadly enough this pain was not a foreign feeling, he was familiar with it so much so that he could name what caused it, or more accurately whom.

For there lying on his stomach was the cause for many of his sufferings in his short and ardous life. His sister natsumi, she was lying on his stomach sleeping peacefully without a care, her left hand finding its way into his shirt and over his aching heart. Naruto knew deep down that his current state of suffering was caused by his sister, it was fairly easy to connect the dots every time this happened his sister had decided to take up residence in his bed, one did not need to be a detective to understand. So naruto seeking to find some way to alleviate the pain he was currently undergoing attempted to gain the strength to wake the girl, which was far more difficult than it should have been. It actually felt as if his lungs weren't able to give him the oxygen to complete the task, now that he thought about it his lungs felt as if, as if they were in pain or burning. Finally his lungs permitted him the energy to speak.

"Natsumi..." no answer he tried harder "natsumi! Get off!" He said this while shaking his torso a little in a attempt to jostle her awake. Luckily she began to stir, her eyes opening slowly yet never going beyond the half lidded dazed look many people had after just waking. She lifted her head and looked around trying to assess her current whereabouts. Finally her eyes landed upon him and after a minute or two of her mind being rebooted she opened her eyes fully and scowled at the knowledge of naruto's presence. It was her default facial setting when dealing with her brother not one you'd expect when dealing with a family member, it would look more at place in the presence of a hated enemy or rival.

"What the hell are you doing here." She spoke bitterly as if the act of speaking to naruto in anything but an insult was a unwanted action on her part. She also most likely thought they were in her room, because whenever she ended up in his bed like this it was because of a weird sleepwalking habit she had developed. So naruto calmed himself not wanting to start an argument, especially in the state he was in. When he spoke it was a calm, emotionless yet informing tone.

"If you haven't noticed this is my room, and this is my bed." Natsumi's scowl changed into an expression of confusion at this new information. After looking around she found naruto's words to be true so she got up to make a quick leave, but not before turning to her brother and sticking her tongue out at him while pulling one of her eyelids down, after that she hastily left.

After she left Kurohime came out of her hiding spot, she being evicted from her sleeping spot in the middle of the night by a sleepwalking natsumi. Naruto meanwhile was attempting to get out of his bed and to the bathroom, hoping that a hot bath would ease the aches of his body or at least get rid of the layer of sweat that accumulated throughout the affair.

As soon as he got to his feet he was hit with a fit of nausea and harsh coughs, Kurohime seeing naruto in such a state ran over to him in a futile attempt to comfort the boy with her presence all the while she was making sounds of worry and fear for the young boy who had taken care of her. Naruto felt as if something was coming out of his throat, so in a burst of energy he ran to the bathroom. Kurohime following him but staying in the doorway as she watched the boy hack, cough and puke into the small sink, all the while shaking in fear of what was to become of naruto and longing to help. Sadly their was no help and naruto continued his coughing fit for close to twelve minutes, it felt as if it was hours to the rooms two occupants.

Finally naruto was able to regain himself and took in great heaps of air, he having exhausted his supply while using his mouth and throat to vacate whatever it was that needed to leave his body. He slowly opened his eyes having closed them during his coughing fit, they soon widened after getting a look at the sink and his hands. Both were covered in blood, his blood. Naruto's hands began to shake in fear, he was no doctor but coughing up that much blood was a clear sign that all was not well in his body. Just then he heard a quite meow coming from the doorway, Kurohime also saw the blood and was seemingly trying to ask what was going on.

Naruto seeing his one and only friend regained his wits and realized, he was getting emotional and by extension irrational. He took a few calm breaths, noticing how easy it was now after his coughing fit, he needed to calm down and review his current situation. First He had just coughed out a good deal of blood, which was bad. Second his lungs had lost the feeling of burning, so he could only assume in his limited yet still knowledgeable information on the human anatomy, The blood now occupying the sink was most likely in his lungs before. that would explain the burning sensation he had and why it was now gone. Third natsumi was the cause of this, he didn't give a Damn what any doctor said or what his parents said she was the cause. His hands covered in blood was evidence of that, and soon his parents would see as well they couldn't refute his claims now with such obvious evidence.

So naruto set out to go tell them but first he needed to comfort his friend. "Its okay hime-chan I'm fine, everythings going to be alright." Naruto had a sincere smile on his face, a look he only gave to his feline companion. Sure he smiled to his parents once in a while due to their attempts at reconnecting actually bearing fruit, but those were small and subtle. A far cry from the beaming warmth filled smile he gave to the little black kitten, a true testament to naruto's care for his precious people (at least the ones he let in his heart). It also showed how desperate he was for companionship, in only a few months naruto bad bonded with the little cat at such a level it could be comparable to the inuzukas and their ninken.

The cat eased up and relaxed due to the comfort in the boys words, so with a queit meow naruto translated to 'ok' she went over to his bed to get caught up on the sleep natsumi interrupted and naruto went to confront his parents.

Sadly things would not go as he hoped they would.

* * *

Naruto had just gotten down the stairs and heard his parents voices in the kitchen. He thought it was odd his parents didn't notice him, ever since the 'accident' They would always keep their senses on alert for him so they would be sure not to go back to their neglectful habits. they even did this after things gradually returned to normal if just for the sake of knowing where naruto was so they don't ever forget him. But then naruto remembered he had put his parents under _mekura _when he got home yesterday, they wanted to spend personnel time with him and he wanted to just spend some quiet time in his room with Kurohime, so to avoid any drama he just used _mekura_ on them after they lost focus on him for a minute. So this allowed him to actually sneak up on his parents.

He was going to break it so they could take notice of him and the fact he had his right hand stained in blood, Well that is until he heard what they were whispering about.

"We just have to tell him, it's killing me when I see him like that I just can't take it."

That was his mother. Tell who what? And why was she so emotional over whatever it was they were talking about. Needless to say naruto's curiosity was piqued, so he decided to listen in on what was being said.

Next minato spoke his voice sounded just as distressed as his wifes. "I know, I know, it just...ugh. we've finally got him to open up to us,if we tell him now...I don't think he'll ever forgive us. Hell he'll probably never even look at us again." Minato spoke with difficulty trying to say the right words to portray his feelings on the matter.

Kushina looked about ready to shed tears, the frustration was getting to her. "Kami, we've screwed up haven't we? Having to make all these excuses just to feel better about our inability to tell him the truth."

Minato sighed"i know, I wish I could just order someone to tell him but it wouldn't be right." they had been having these conversations ever since the 'accident' trying to push themselves to come clean with naruto. But it always ends the same they talk about their inability to tell him, then they insult themselves and get emotional, finally ending with them saying they're going to tell him but they don't and the cycle continues. "I've actually practiced telling the truth to him, but when I see the hope in his eyes I just..."

"You just can't bare the thought of crushing it." Kushina finished for her husband knowing exactly what he was going through since she felt the same.

Minato nodded "Its like no matter how I word it or how I would say it, it feels like I would just be going up to him and saying. hey son you remember what we said about your arm? Well it turns out that's a lie, the doctors say it will never heal. some even going so far to say it will never be anything more than a paperweight, its dead. And it's all our fault." At the beginning of his speach he sounded exasperated but at the end he sounded defeated. He then placed his head in his hands to hide his face in shame. They really couldn't take it, the guilt of what their neglect brought about. They even began losing sleep over it, they just couldn't stand themselves they forgot their son, like he didn't even exist and he ended up paying the price for their shortcomings.

Kushina walked up to her husband and placed her hand on his shoulder in an effort to comfort him. they were both orphaned at a young age due to their parents deaths, so they promised when they became parents they would make sure to always be there for their children so they wouldn't know the suffering of being alone. But naruto, he had endured the suffering, he knew what it felt like. And what's worse it wasn't because his parents died tragically, it was because they forgot him.

If only they noticed the presence listening in on their conversation just outside the kitchen door, or noticed as it ran away from the house in saddness and betrayal.

* * *

He ran, that's all he wanted to do just run away from that house from his par- those people and their lies and betrayals. Since it was early in the day barely anyone was on the streets to see him, not that he'd care even if their were.

They knew, everyone knew that he would never heal. The pity, the way people acted around him everything all made sense now. They all knew everyone all except for him. it was like some sick joke everyone knew he was a cripple and let him walk around with hope, believing one day his arm would heal. What a fool he'd been to trust them, he shouldn't have allowed them back in his heart because now he was paying for it in heartache. He didn't even notice as he started crying.

He may have acted coldly towards his parents to some degree but he was secretly happy, he even went so far as to sometimes think the 'accident' was actually a blessing in disguise. Something that allowed them to finally grow as a family, naruto even told himself he was happy to pay the price of one broken arm for the end of his loneliness. But now he saw it for what it really was it was just a series of betrayals, his parents forgot him and broke his heart then they acted like they actually cared for him so he'd let them in, only for them to betray him again and break his heart, AGAIN.

So he ran, as if attempting to run away from the cruel reality that was his life.

* * *

Minato and kushina just felt a bad feeling in their gut, but chose to ignore it as being caused from their conversation.

"Kushina I'm a little worried about the kids. After all we'll both be gone for the next few days, I'll have to deal with council meetings for the next chunnin exam in kumo. We both know I won't be back from that bitchfest for at least two days. Then there is your mission."

Kushina nodded in affirmation. "Yes I have border patrol I won't be home for a few days either. But you shouldn't worry about the kids, they've been home alone a few times the worse they'll cause is a mess. Besides a little alone time might be good for them." Kushina spoke the last part with a faraway look in her eyes. Minato knew she was thinking about naruto, despite their best efforts their son was still very distant with them. They had made some headway in reconnecting with him, he talked with them from time to time and had the rare smile once in awhile. But naruto was still solitary and they not wanting to push to hard when reconnecting with him let him have his space when he wanted it, though they would still do their best to reconnect whenever they could. They only hoped the little progress they've made won't be destroyed if he somehow learned of his crippling from someone else.

If only they knew.

* * *

Naruto had ran till his lungs cried for him to stop, then he ran some more before he was forced to stop. Had naruto been in the right state of mind he would have known he was in a place that he should not be in, in fact if he knew we're he was he would most likely get up and runaway. if he noticed the signs as well as the fence, that conveniently had a section missing so he could just run right past it, he would of most likely never entered if he saw those warnings. Naruto namikaze had ended up smack dab in the middle of one of the 'dead sectors' of konoha, other wise known as the areas filled with the kyubi's youki after that infamous night over seven years ago. But right now naruto couldn't give a Damn.

Naruto lied on his hands and knees, breath ragged as he finally let the feelings that tried to get out wash over him. Naruto was suffering and his thoughts were in turmoil. 'They lied to me, why Why WHY?!' He then let his feelings go vocal.

"WHY, WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME?! WAS I JUST SOME JOKE, LETS LET HIM HAVE HOPE THAT HIS WORTHLESS ARM WILL HEAL! BUT IT WON'T, IT CAN'T HE'LL NEVER HEAL! I'M A CRIPPLE, I'M A FUCKING CRIPPLE AND NO ONE TOLD ME! WHY?!" Naruto shouted throughout it all, sounding more and more anguished after each word. "Why does everything bad have to happen to me? Why?" Now he just sounded defeated, alone and broken. His words came out in a whisper, he seemingly lacked the strength to shout out his pain to the world. Now all he could do is cry, cry for the pain he felt in his heart for his destroyed dream and the latest betrayal from his family.

Naruto so immersed in his cries of saddness didn't notice as a literal wave of red youki approached him, it stalked up to him gliding, floating really as it approached him like a spectre of hell itself come to drag him down to the fiery pits of the abyss it came from.

The youki had gained some form of sentience in its time away from its more intelligent main body, not to say the youki that now infested the 'dead sectors' of konoha was really alive. It was more like a set of orders it followed, like instincts if you will. The youki's main instinct was reconnect with the main body, in this case that would be the kyubi, but seeing as the kyuubi was safely sealed away that became highly improbable. So the youki went into its next set of instincts, self preservation. The youki had made the 'dead sectors' of konoha it's lair and hunting grounds, the youki had infested the area and took whatever it could to sustain itself. Mainly the youki devoured any unlucky creature that stumbled into its presence, latching on to it then sucking out its chakra like a vampire takes blood, then breaking down the victims body for further sustenance. A simpler living was probably never thought up, hunt and devour that was all it could do, the only option it was allowed until it could bond with its original body and become self sustaining again, that was all it had. It was also why the area was known as the 'dead sectors', any fool that attempted to go in there, most likely due to stupidty influenced by alcohol, was never seen again just another victim to the youki. The place was as dangerous as a nuclear hotspot. the reason it was dangerous was hunting naruto now, and he was none the wiser.

The youki slowly approached in a cloud that resembled whisps of dust a far cry from the vast cloud it should be, most likely from lack of prey to devour. A problem now rectified because of the young boy that wondered into its web, the cloud of youki would be able sustain itself quite a while thanks to this meal. It slowly latched itself onto the boy, naruto still consumed in his saddened sobs was unable to notice. The youki knew it was now or never it pounced, first covering the legs to hinder escape then moving up the back. Strange? The boy should be crying in agony, as all other prey seemed to do, if the youki could feel emotion it most definitely would be feeling confusion. nevertheless it continued on its mission to try to consume the boy. After a few more seconds it nearly covered the boy completely, before.

The cloud suddenly recoiled as if in fear, or a more accurate assessment would be shocking realization. The boy was resistant to youki, even more so he had youki running through him. The youki not questioning why saw the boy no longer as prey but rather one of its own or at least a friendly. So the youki began dispersing, by the time naruto's sobs ended and he would be able to notice the youki it had dispersed into non-visible particles saturating the surroundings, waiting for the next pray to wander into its jaws.

Naruto had done it, he let all his emotions that he had been bottling up for what seemed like forever, and you know what? It felt good, he was still in a great deal of pain from his parents betrayal, mostly because he had let them in again. But it felt like a great weight was lifted from his heart allowing him to think rationally, and under this rationality he made a vow, never again.

"They broke my heart twice, there won't be a third time." He vocalized these words in an effort to cement them in his heart. From now on his family would be nothing more than people that shared his blood, no bonds left other than that. To further uphold his new vow he would leave konoha, he really had no reason to stay after all. His family? Yeah right, natsumi showed time and again she would find great happiness in his non-existance, so why not give her what she wants and leave. His parents? Well after this newest betrayal naruto could easily say he no longer viewed them as such. they had lied to him, allowed him to hope and dream of being back to normal knowing it would never come true, and for what? The selfish want to save face, to protect themselves from his fury so they could absolve themselves of the guilt they felt, a task they wouldn't be able to achieve should he have found the truth. By keeping the knowledge of his crippling secret, knowledge that was undoubtedly his right to know, they had only increased the pain he felt. Any lingering love he had for them was destroyed with this truth. natsumi could have them, because he certainly no longer wanted a place in this family, He would take his chances outside of this village.

Any other reasons he could of had were disposed of by his family. Freinds, after natsumi's stunt at their fifth birthday he had no human friends whatsoever, till this day the ban she had put up stayed strong. He actually wouldn't even want those children as friends, a majority of them had acted cruelly to him picking on him blaming him for their actions, even those that didn't do this had treated him like a pariah. He actually was considered a pariah until his accident, everyone thought all the pranks and other acts done by the children were done by his hand, making adults look at him like a troublemaker and disgrace, so he had no social relations with any adults. The only friend he had was Kurohime, and he could easily bring her with him when he left.

His ninja career? Well as long as he stayed here there wasn't going to be a ninja career for him. Now that he thought about it that was probably why his parents made no attempt to teach him anything shinobi related. So that was just another reason for him to leave, if he wanted to be a ninja he would have to leave. He'd learn one handed seals for ninjutsu. Fuinjutsu didn't require two hands and neither did genjutsu, once he got enough skill. As for taijutsu and kenjutsu he would find a way, he knew he would.

Naruto was already fully prepared to leave the leaf village. He had supplies, well at least everything that would be necessary clothes, food would be easy enough to acquire, he already had a med kit, he had knowledge on foraging and herbology as well as knowledge on camping and the supplies to do so and as for money, his frugalness took care of that. If he needed knowledge for his ninja training he already had that covered from the numerous scrolls he copied from the scrolls his parents left out, a good deal of them were too high a level for him to learn now but a little way down the road no problem. As for a disguise, well amazingly enough his sister had covered that for him. Once when they learned the henge natsumi got upset because her lousy control made it difficult to do, so in a true natsumi fashion she through a fit then attempted the technique again, while overloading it with chakra. Natsumi ended up being taken to the hospital and naruto found a new version of the henge, he found out that simple things like hair color or eye color was easy to do, but try to change your height or anything like that be prepared for pain. So naruto had a simple yet perfect disguise. Pretty much everything was already taken care of, all except actually getting out of the village.

But planning how he was going to escape could wait till later. After all he wasn't going to plan out how he was going to run away in the middle of...of...wherever the hell he is. Wait! Where the hell is he! He didn't recognize anything no landmarks nothing, it was like he wasn't even in konoha anymore. Many of the buildings looked structurally unsound, some looked as if they were being demolished but whoever was doing the demolishing stopped halfway through. It looked like he walked into a ghost town, a ghost town abandoned over half a dozen years ago. He didn't know how right he was. He needed to hurry up home to his par- to minato and kushina, he wasn't going to give them such endearing titles anymore they had abused his trust far to many times.

Naruto began his trek home. After walking for a minute or two he realized something he was still emotional, or to be more accurate he was angry. So naruto thought to himself if he felt so much better after crying out all his saddness then he should feel much better after venting his anger. Since he was in a ghost town there was no one around to argue with him, and honestly.

Who could argue with a little anger management therapy?

Naruto ran at a brick wall, jumped and then extended his leg. It was simple physics and the wall couldn't argue as it collapsed from the young man's impressive leg strength. Naruto let a small smile play on his lips, it felt good to do something that would get him in trouble, he could get the appeal natsumi saw in this. Then after the dust cleared naruto saw something, it looked like a steel door to a bunker. It was definitely not supposed to be there, the reason being it was at the back of a storage warehouse and the passage to get to the thing wasn't even connected to the main building, in fact the passage would have been completely blocked off if the wall naruto destroyed was still standing. Why would someone build a passageway and door just to make it inaccessible?

Naruto being the curious boy he was walked into the corridor to better observe what he just found. After entering he noticed a few seals on the wall to his left, it was the wall that connected this passageway to the warehouse. From his already impressive knowledge on seals he was able to discern that these seals were used to activate a mechanism of some sort, most likely a mechanism to allow access to the corridor from the warehouse. There was most likely some other seals just like the ones naruto was looking at on the other side of the wall. Naruto was also able to see these seals had various security measures placed on them, meaning if you were not recognized by the seals you wouldn't be able to activate them. That meant someone went to great lengths to ensure the secrecy of the metal door, though it also looked abandoned with all the dust not to mention how the seals were faded to a such a degree that they either wouldn't work or they would blow up.

Now naruto May have been shy as well as cautious at times, but that didn't say he wasnt adventurous. So as any adventurous child would do when given a chance to explore an area they weren't supposed to go, without repercussions, he decided to have a little adventure.

So naruto carefully moved to open the door, the seals on the wall may have been faded but there still could be some functioning security measures on this door and where it led. Naruto carefully opened the door, it creaked and moaned from obvious lack of use combined with rusting. After the door was opened he noticed some security seals on the other side of the door, they would have caused an explosion if not disarmed with The application of an authorized persons chakra. Lucky for naruto these seals were also too faded to activate otherwise he'd be barbecued by now. On the other side of the door was a flight of stairs, naruto could only see half way down due to lack of light. He wasn't going to let that stop him.

Naruto looked around and saw a torch in a holder attached to the side of the wall, perfect. Naruto grabbed the torch and set about lighting it. Naruto had a bracelet attached to his right hand, on that were two storage seals. One held his cat wallet that held all his money, and the other held a few sealing tools, a brush some ink and a few slips of paper. After installing his sealing tools he wrote out a seal that would normally be used for starting campfires, but for this situation it would work just as well. After re-sealing his tools he applied the seal to the torch and activated it, and presto he had light. Naruto picked up the torch and began his little adventure into the unknown.

After walking for a while through the corridors and down the stairs naruto was happy for two things, one whoever built this place built it without the thought of long lasting security measures, naruto had seen a few traps but time had already done its part to disarm them so naruto didn't really have to worry about dying. Two whoever was last in this place decided to leave all the doors open except the front door, he was happy for this because had they not left them open naruto's journey would have ended a long while ago due to inability to get through the steal doors without accessing the faded seals necessary to open them. Altogether it would have been impossible for him to go through the hidden base if those two factors weren't in play.

Naruto also idly wondered what this base was for. Could it be an old anbu base, maybe a secret clan bunker, or perhaps it belonged to that root faction he heard about. That would certainly explain why it was abandoned then, since root was disbanded quite a few years ago. Naruto was actually far off, it was really an old base for the traitor orochimaru. He used it along with many other bases stationed in konoha to conduct his twisted experiments, he abandoned it shortly before he was forced to flee konoha. He took only the research notes, because that's all he cared about, all the while leaving a number of supplies and testing products. After all to orochimaru the loss of a single base wasn't cause for worry, he didn't even bother to close any doors but the front knowing it would only be a matter of time before he was found out at the time. But this particular base was never found, they would have found it though had it not been for the kyubi attack making the area inaccessible. So naruto was the first to step foot in these chambers since orochimaru abandoned them all those years ago.

Finally naruto found what looked to be the end of the rabbit hole, or more appropriate the snake den. It was a long corridor with a metal door at the end, after he reached the end of the hall he saw the door was slightly ajar so he did what anyone would do he gave it a push to look inside.

What he saw inside was what could be considered the lab of a mad scientist. It was a circular room filled with strange machines, in the middle was an operating table with a little table that had a bunch of dirty surgical tools next to it. On one side of the room was a grouping of large cylindrical glass tubes that held some strange light green liquid, a majority of them were broken some completely shattered some with only a hole broken in them in which the liquid they previously held escaped. On the opposite side was a series of shelves that held jars filled with other liquids, again a majority of them were broken but some, about four from what naruto could see, were still intact with their labels and tops placed neatly upon them. Opposite to the door naruto entered from was another door, it was opened showing naruto the room that lay beyond, or at least what used to be a room since it caved in. A few feet before the door was a basin big enough to bath an infant or small child in. Just to the left of the entrance was a group of file cabinets going all the way to the shelves that held the jars, they were open showing they had been vacated of all contents. This apparently was the last room in the base.

Naruto set out to examine the room more thoroughly, first he checked the file cabinets, the were completely empty not even a single sheet of paper left in them. Next he checked the tubes, nothing to see their though he did wonder, what the hell were they for? He moved on to the surgical table, he noticed the table had a variety of straps on it, whoever was operated on probably didn't do it voluntarily. The surgical equipment placed next to the table looked dulled and rusted from age, the cloth they were placed on had a number of brownish stains on it, odd? Those same stains were all over the operating table as well.

Finally he made it to the shelves that had the jars, before he examined them though he placed his torch in a holder on the wall between the shelves and caved in room.

He the went about examining the jars, his earlier assesment was proven true there was indeed only four intact jars. Currently naruto was trying to read the labels on them in a attempt to find out what was in them, because as far as naruto knew the clear light red liquid did not look like anything he ever read about in the few medical books he's read. Sadly the flickering light of the torch did not provide enough luminescence for him to read it, so naruto picked up one of the jars to better examine it.

After getting a closer look naruto tried deciphering what the labels said. "Kera...kura..damnit whoever wrote this has the writing skills of a toddler." Naruto unconsciously tightened his grip on the jar in his focus to read the writing on the jars label. Unfortunately the jar, being brittle from years of exposure, shattered in his hand causing a number of small cuts to appear on it and it was covered in the unknown liquid as well. "Aghhh" naruto shouted in surprise as he averted his eyes from the jar to avoid them being damaged. He then looked at his arm after opening his eyes he was not happy with what he saw, their was a number of bleeding cuts on his hand and arm from the glass, not to mention the liquid in the jar was seeping into the cuts.

"D-damnit, I need to find some disinfectant and some bandages before I...before." naruto was shocked at what he was seeing the cuts that riddled his right arm, they were healing. The wounds were slowly but surely closing, and after a couple of minutes watching the spectacle all that was left was some leftover blood and pink skin were the wounds used to be. "I-I'm healed, h-how how did this happen." He then looked to the broken glass and liquid on the ground. "Was it this stuff? is it medicine?"

Naruto was very wrong that liquid did in fact NOT heal his arm at all, no. It was youki, or to be more precise the youki his sister pumped into him earlier that very same day. Normally when natsumi pumped youki into naruto, like all those other times, it's volatile and toxic nature would damage him before being destroyed and dissipated by the chakra running in naruto's own body. But after the accident the youki was given an interesting opportunity. With chakra flow in naruto's left arm being limited as it was by his injuries, the youki could take up residence in the arm. After that it could latch itself on the boy and feed of his chakra to keep itself stabilized. In return the youki would try to take care of its new 'home' and act as youki would in a normal jinchuriki. or at least try to, it being as minimal as it was could only help heal him. It helped promote cellular mitosis so the cells could replicate faster making naruto heal faster, it could also help filter out any harmful or foreign substances found inside naruto. It was a symbiotic relationship if their ever was one, the youki gained stability and sustenance, while naruto was healed and kept healthy in return.

Naruto however didn't know this, therefore he was allowed to think whatever he wanted. And in his shocked and hopeful mind he thought that what he just got splashed over his arm was some kinda super drug that healed people.

Naruto then went to grab another jar, though this time he made sure to be very gentle. He picked up the next closest one, examined it and saw it had the same unreadable symbols on the label as the other jar did. He then looked around and saw the basin, now that would suit his needs just perfectly. He walked to it and then, after removing the lid, poured the contents of the jar into the basin. He then removed his left arm from the sling and removed the bandages covering it. Finally he picked up a sharp piece of glass of the ground.

"Well, here goes nothing." In naruto's desperate mind he threw away all caution and common sense. All that was left was misplaced hope, hope that whatever lay in these jars could heal him. Naruto would have bitch slapped himself for even considering doing something like this if he could think properly. With that naruto cut the Palm of his hand and dunked it into the liquid.

Naruto then waited, and sure enough the cut healed right before his eyes. Naruto blinked away tears of pain from the stinging sensation that he started feeling halfway through the process. In his eyes the little 'experiment' was a success, the wound had healed and what's more he actually felt pain in his arm. After the accident his left arm was numb to any and every feeling, their was no feeling of pain, no feeling of touch, the arm was as the doctors said, dead.

Little did naruto know, if his arm wasn't as 'numbed' as it was it would feel like he just dunked his hand into a vat of highly corrosive acid rather then the slight stinging sensation he got. The reason for this was the youki in his arm had its hands full trying to filter out the liquid that naruto thought was medicine. It could handle the first bit of exposure as only a little liquid seeped into the wounds and even less was absorbed into the skin. But it wasn't even halfway finished dealing with that before naruto dunked his arm into a whole lot more of it, and with a wound on his palm, so it got into the blood as well. So the youki first worked on closing the wound to stop that, then it worked on dealing with the volatile liquid. It was already a little over its head with this, it wouldn't be able to handle anything else. It was really not going to be able to handle what naruto had planned in his hope poisoned mind.

Naruto driven into a fit of irrational desperation from the hope of regaining his crippled limb was now staring at the shelves that held the jars, or more specifically the two jars still filled with the unidentified substance. His thoughts were along the lines of 'if I completely submerge my arm in this stuff, it should heal it.' So he quickly went to the shelves and got the two remaining jars and dumped them into the basin. Now if he took the time to actually look at the labels he would have noticed they read a little differently than the first two. The first two he was exposed to had the word kura on them the rest of the letters were faded off, the one after that said sag and the rest of the letters faded off, and the last one said reg and once again the rest of the letters were unreadable. now he was going to expose himself to a mixture of the three, this could only end badly.

Naruto grabbed the glass shard he used before and made a long slash down his left arm, he also once again maid a slash on his palm. He then submerged his entire left arm into the mixture he had created, all the while hoping for the best. Sadly the best didn't happen, everything went fine at first but then. Naruto began feeling a tingle in his arm, it turned into an itch, then it turned into a burn, then it was like he stuck his hand in battery acid, finally it felt like his arm was eating itself, like every molecule and cell was destroying one another. Naruto did the only thing he could.

He screamed.

"Arrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. His eyes widened, his veins were visible from beneath the skin, his heart was pumping and his muscles were going into spasms. Shortly after this naruto fell into sweet unconsciousness, even if he still continued to writhe as if in pain.

You see the so called 'medicine' naruto used on himself was as far away medicine as you could get. In reality it was the extracted DNA from various clans with bloodlines. Orochimaru had gained the genetic material from a member of the clans, then after isolating the special strand of the DNA that was the bloodline he recreated it into the liquid naruto found, in other words it was the 'essence' of the particular bloodline given physical form for the mad man's experiments. Naruto had just in a way injected himself with three different bloodline 'essences'. Often the experiments of the madman's were attempts at integrating a particular bloodline into a human without one, which was the purpose of the surgical chair and subsequently the straps on it. Or he would try integrating the bloodline into a human fetus, which was what the glass tubes once stored. None of his test subjects survived, apparently integrating the foreign substance into the DNA of the subject was to much of a strain for the body to endure. Just like all the others that fate seemed to be rapidly approaching naruto.

The youki in naruto's left arm was working overtime trying to filter the toxic mixture it's host exposed himself to. It could handle the first exposure, the second time was just more of the same problem it was difficult but manageable, but the addition of two new substances the youki just couldn't do it. their wasn't enough youki to do it, at this rate it's host was going to die. So the youki did the only thing it could, It called for help.

And so all the youki inhabiting konoha's dead sectors heard the call for help, and like an ant colony hearing the call of the queen it answered. All the youki in konoha (except the youki sealed in natsumi) moved to naruto's location in whispy clouds, the cloud grew bigger and bigger the closer it got to naruto's location. It entered the steel door at the surface, it then glided down the corridors like a spectre till it reached the final room were naruto resided. It entered and began spiraling around naruto like a red maelstrom, seemingly observing the origin of the distress call. It then delicately connected to naruto and covered him like a cloak, it then connected with the youki in naruto's arm to 'share' the knowledge they had. By doing that they came to an understanding, young naruto was perfect host material. Not only could it take up residence in his left arm, but because of naruto's resistance to youki and the fact that their was much more youki now after 'connecting' it could integrate itself into the rest of the hosts body for a more beneficial relationship for both.

In order to understand what's going on you would need to know about the youki. After it was separated from kyuubi it fell back on the instincts practically sewn into its being, those instincts were self preservation and reconnect to the main body. The main body being the kyuubi or to be more precise the kyuubi's intelligence. You see the kyuubi would be the 'queen' the ruler and what all the youki centered around and worked for, like a brain. That would make the residue youki left behind in the dead sectors and naruto's body the muscles, bone and body working under the brain. But after being separated from the 'brain' the youki in the dead sectors gained a sort of hive mentality, everything was done for the sake of self preservation for the hive. So the youki hive saw naruto as an opportunity really, he was a place the hive could take residence in and gain stability. It would no longer need to hunt and devour to stabilize itself, it could simply live in naruto and make him it's new 'main body' or brain that it would protect and reside in.

The reason naruto was so fit for this was partly because his crippled arm, like previously stated it allowed the youki to gain a foothold in naruto's body and integrate with him. But their was one other reason, and that was natsumi. You see jinchuriki naturally underwent a reoccurring process known as a 'surge', these surges were meant to flood the hosts body with youki to help increase resistance to the toxic nature of the youki. Without the resistance the body would undergo possibly life threatening damage should the biju need to flood the hosts system with youki in an effort to aid the host in a life or death situation. Now natsumi was a special case, the the reason for this was because she and naruto were twins. This allowed natsumi to near instinctively channel the youki that would flood her own system into naruto due to their similar genetic makeup, basically she had the subconscious instinct to go to naruto whenever a surge occurs, which explained her habit of sleepwalking to naruto's room every so often. so basically naruto would end up getting the effects of the surge, both the pain and resistance. Now their were quite a few problems with this, the first was naruto wasn't a jinchuriki. He didn't have the constant presence of youki in his body, any youki channeled into him would be dissipated and destroyed by his own chakra, therefore the resistance he had with youki would gradually lessen over time whereas in an actual jinchuriki it would not.

The second problem was the kyuubi was aware of this. Natsumi channeling her surges into naruto was also detrimental to her, the reason was she wouldn't have the resistance to be able to endure her body being flooded with youki should she need it, and the kyuubi didn't like that. So in an effort to rectify this the kyuubi began sending more youki through natsumi and in shorter intervals, sadly natsumi continued channeling the youki into naruto and the only thing that changed was the damage naruto's body took. Naruto May have been able to heal from his injections of youki once every two months, but an increased dosage at the rate he was receiving it now, it was only a matter of time before his body gave out.

But lucky for naruto he kept the resistance allowing the youki from the dead sectors to safely integrate with him, and then allow the youki to get to work saving his life. Something the youki had no argument In doing, naruto's body was perfect for it and what's more without a seal to restrict its movements, naruto might as well of been named paradise to the youki. So the youki integrated with him and filled his body in an effort to isolate the harmful foreign presence and stabilize its new host, after a few minutes naruto's harsh breathing along with his spasms of pain stopped and the boy simply lie unconscious. But now that it's host was safe and it had the strange invader held hostage the youki in a way grew calculative in this situation, perhaps there was use of this foreign substance? Maybe the youki could break it down and give its host immunity to it, or allow its host to use its effects against any enemies he should encounter, and so the youki began analyzing the substance already in its hosts system as well as the rest of it in the basin by covering it with youki.

Now you may be wondering why the youki would be taking steps to strengthen naruto, well it's very simple any step in helping naruto also helped the youki. You see to the youki, naruto has now replaced the kyuubi, and they have a symbiotic relationship that the youki had great need of. To better picture it think of the aburame and their kikaichu, the kikaichu would do what they could to strengthen the host while the host allowed their existence in its body.

After analyzing the liquid the youki found it bearing beneficial substances, substances the youki could integrate into the hosts body. And while the youki was at it, it could make several other changes to the host that would better them both. For instance first the youki could integrate the bloodline essences into the hosts body, therefore giving naruto those abilities so he could use them to benefit himself and by extension the youki. Next the youki could even work on awakening hidden abilities lying dormant inside the hosts DNA, the youki found one such ability that naruto possessed and set about awakening it. Finally changes would needed to be made to the limb the youki was able to gain access to naruto from, for instance the youki May have had a foothold already but it would be beneficial to further cement itself into the limb. normally a seal would do this as well as restrict the youki, but without it the youki would need to improvise. so it set about making a 'core' in the arm for permanent residence, as well as chakra or youki pathways in the body to better move about the hosts body.

Lastly the arm was of no use to the host in the state it was in, so the youki would need to take measures to restore the arm. First it would regenerate the dead cells in the arm as well as the nerves, then properly strengthen the muscles and bones to match the other arm. And then it would need to repair the chakra pathways in the arm, that way the host would be able to use the arm as it normally would. With that all the youki's changes were finished, and it fully integrated itself into naruto's system. But a strange thing happened to the youki after it fully bonded with naruto, it changed how it looked being stabilized by naruto's body. Before it was like a wispy cloud of Orange-red smoke, now it looked like liquid velvet in the deepest shade of crimson thought possible.

Meanwhile naruto slept, completely ignorant of the changes being made to his body or how they would change his future.

* * *

Naruto's body began to stir, with a groan he slowly began to awake. Naruto slowly began to pull himself up onto his knees. He felt horrible his entire body was sore, his stomach was empty, his throat was dry and he felt like shit.

"Ugh wha-what happened to me?" He looked around the room to try and remember what happened. "That's right, I found this room, and then I used that medicine..." just like that naruto's memory returned to him, he then began gritting his teeth in anger at what he had done, what the hell was he thinking? He then began beating his head and pulling his hair, as if to punish himself for his stupidity.

"Stupid, stupid, STUPID! WHY would you think that would work? Nothing in your life has ever worked out before, why would things start changing now?" He then clenched his fists and slammed them on the ground, there he was again in a familiar pose on his hands and knees trying not to cry. Then slowly, ever so slowly naruto's head began rising, instead of tears his face held a look of realization. He had been hit by two hands, he clenched two fists and he slammed two arms onto the ground.

He then looked at his left arm, he then willed it to lift itself up and the most surprising thing happened, it obeyed! Naruto then willed his fingers to move and his hand to turn, all the while he stared with wide eyes as the actions were done. He looked at his arm as if it was doing an incomprehensible feet, but to naruto it was a miracle. Naruto then brought his left arm to his chest as well as his right, as if to hug himself. He then let tears out of his eyes, but these were different then before, these were tears of joy.

"I-it's h-healed, it's actually healed." Naruto said this in a shaky voice filled with happiness, he was smiling now and nothing could take that from him. He spent a good deal time like that, rejoicing in the fact his arm was healed. But he realized he had things to do, and with his arm now healed he would have to rethink them. After all he just couldn't go and show everyone his arm was healed, who knows what they would do to him. Not to mention it would interfere with him leaving they found out, and he was leaving healed arm or no. Also this would definitely help him when he left beyond the obvious reasons, for instance they would be looking for a boy with a crippled left arm, well naruto no longer fell under that category.

Just then he was broken from his thoughts by the sound of someone or something entering the room. "W-who's there!" He quickly turned around to confront the intruder, he was met with the sight of a pair of emerald green cat eyes. "Hime, is that you?" He received a meow in confirmation. "Hime-chan!" Naruto truly was happy now his arm was healed and he had his best friend with him. "Look hime my arm it's healed!" The kitten looked at the moving limb and after seeing naruto's words were true, she quickly bounded up to naruto and nuzzled him in happiness, occasionally letting out a happy meow. Naruto just hugged her back, until he realized were they were. "Hime-chan lets hurry up and get out of here" and so naruto re-bandaged his arm and put it in the sling, for the sake of keeping his healed arm a secret, and both he and Kurohime left.

* * *

However, shortly after the two left the dead sector a small group of anbu appeared, and it seemed they were searching for something.

"Keep a lookout, if the youki gets a hold of you your as good as dead." This was the apparent leader.

"I just don't get it, how exactly did all the youki just get up and disappear like that." This anbu was younger than the other two.

"That's exactly what we're here to find out, witnesses say the youki came in this direction. If there is something here we'll find it." This anbu held a voice of confidence and wisdom.

"Yeah I know, but why just send the three of us?"

"Because rookie the council was in a tizzy about this, hokage-sama was unable to send anyone else and without our report he won't be able to send anymore. So get searching, hokage-sama is counting on us."

They never noticed the little footprints leading away from the dead sector.

* * *

Kushina namikaze was at home and happily making breakfast. She had just returned from her border patrol mission, she was also hoping to spend some time with her family. Sadly that wouldn't be happening, due to the activity of the youki in the dead sectors her husband was held up with meetings and would be unable to come home for awhile, at least until the council finally agreed to send out search parties. When that happened both of them would most likely be apart of it, so the time she had now to spend with her children was precious.

* * *

Naruto had found out that he had been gone three days. he had gone to get something to eat for him and Kurohime because he was starving and he ended up seeing the date on a newspaper, after that he prepared himself for the questions his parents would give him on his whereabouts. He then got home to find kushinas shoes in the entryway, good only one of them was home, he found out that they usually only tried to 'bond' with him when both were around. So he quickly hid Kurohime in his shirt, missing the reddening of the little kittens cheeks, and announced his return.

"I'm back" naruto had prepared himself for the sight of kushina running out to bombard him with questions of where he had been. He however was not really prepared for the reaction kushina gave.

"Really? I didn't know you were gone. Could you go and wake up natsumi for me, breakfast is ready if you want some."

Naruto couldn't believe it, they cared so little for him he could be gone for almost half a week and they wouldn't notice, the genjutsu had worn off days ago. He may have at first been surprised, but he just sighed and accepted it, if anything it just reaffirmed his belief that he leaving konoha was the best course of action for everyone. Sadly he didn't know his mother came home only half an hour ago and believed he was still asleep like natsumi, or the fact that both parents had also been absent from the house while he was gone.

"Not hungry" with those words naruto went up to his room, briefly stopping to wake natsumi and tell her about breakfast, he then began work on planning his escape from konoha. Before he left he would have to evaluate his skills, get used to his now healed arm and get any supplies he might need for the journey.

He would be gone from konoha before the week was out.

* * *

**yo dudes**

**Sorry it took a while, this month has been a little hectic for me.**

**Anyway as you can see I've made a few changes to the arm. First the arm is naruto's not the youki's, he has final say in its use. Next the youki is subservient to naruto, it views him as its 'brain' or leader in a way. Finally the only bloodlines he received that's the same as thanathos's is the healing and kurama bloodline, he has two other abilities he gained from the lab can you guess what they are (one he got from the jar the other was awoken inside him.) not to mention naruto is able to use all the bloodline abilities he gained through the incident, none are exclusive to the arm he just has to learn how to utilize them.**

**Till next time.**

**Stay classy dudes.**


	7. Chapter 7 freedom and realization

**sup dudes.**

**I'm almost through with typing out chapters that revolve around thanathos's chapters. Next chapter I'll be able to start on my originality by showing what I plan to do with this story, You'll never be able to guess where naruto goes first. But remember this chapter and the next will have very similar outlines to thanathos's chapters.**

**Anyway enjoy the chapter dude's**

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO NEVER HAVE NEVER WILL, PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE.**

* * *

**ch:7 freedom and realization**

naruto went about working on his skills with haste and above all secrecy, after all if people found out his arm miraculously healed who knows what would happen. Anywhere from dissection to increased watch over him, neither of those were acceptable in his eyes.

When naruto first began reacquaintence with the feeling of two working arms he was quite surprised, pleasantly surprised mind you, that his left arm he had thought would be so frail was actually on equal terms of strength as his right. This greatly helped naruto who feared he would have to work a great many weeks before he got his once disabled arm up to working order. He was also able to get used to using his left arm with the prowess he had trained it for, he originally being right handed had took steps to teach himself to be ambidextrous, as most ninja do, so his left and right arm were used with equal amounts of skill.

Next he practiced in his ninjutsu, and once again he was pleasantly surprised. His left arms ability to channel chakra was equal to that of his rights, no need for compensation of any sort. Then when he tested his handseal speed it was not hampered in the slightest from what it was before the accident. All in all it was as if he was never injured, all he had to do was go back to incorporating his upper body into his exercise regimen and he'd be as good as new.

Well almost everything was the same, when he tested out some of his genjutsu he still required handseals for on one of his book clones (remember from ch 3 they're shadow clones that cost way less chakra to make but still have the memory feedback, though they can't be used for fighting only reading, thinking or designing seals. And being guinea pigs for genjutsu.) he was, he didn't really know if he was pleasantly surprised or just surprised.

Apparently his genjutsu were now far more potent then he intended them to be, he noticed this when he cast a simple genjutsu that was designed to cause immobilization to the person under its effects until they broke out of it. It worked well enough the genjutsu had the desired effect, it wasn't until his clone tried to break out of it that he realized the problomatic change. The genjutsu were much harder to break, now that may not seem like a problem but their was more. He couldn't measure how long a genjutsu would last, if he cast a mekura to last ten minutes it would last hours. The fact that his genjutsu abilities underwent a sudden upgrade was quite troubling to naruto for one reason, he could no longer control the genjutsu to do exactly as he wanted to. Not knowing your own strength in one of your skills was a very bad thing for any ninja.

So naruto went about rectifying this newfound change along with any other ninja skills of his that dulled during his crippling, after all if he was going to get out of konoha and survive the outside world he would need to. During that time naruto praised over and over again the usefulness shadow clones had when training, without them he would need a week or two before he returned to proper shape.

And naruto would very much prefer not staying in konoha for that long, and since he already had a plan he wouldn't have to.

* * *

Naruto was waiting outside a very special building in konoha, said building being the one that held the crew that monitored the barrier around konoha. He was currently waiting for the people that would take the night shift for the day, because this day was the day he was to leave. But in order to do that their were three group's that needed to be under the effects of mekura, the barrier crew being one of them.

Lucky for him he was able to get a hold of the files that had a description of who was on barrier, gate and patrol duty and on what shifts. Minato wasn't very good at keeping such sensitive information in a safe place when in the confines of his own home, oh well his lapse in judgement was to naruto's benefit after all.

Just then naruto saw a group walking towards the building he recognized them from the pictures in the files, they were the ones that would be tending the barrier during his escape, perfect. Naruto began walking towards them, playing the perfect role of the depressed cripple out for a stroll. As he planned the group all looked at naruto as he walked by, how could they resist naruto had become a regular gossip topic, or to be more precise his crippling was the gossip topic. Naruto had to suppress a growl at that, everyone even complete strangers who held no bonds with him or his once family (as he had mentally severed all bonds and beliefs that he and the namikaze's were a real family) knew of his crippling while he was left in the dark. He quickly calmed himself, after today he would be free.

Naruto then brought his head up and looked each of them in the eye, one at a time, all while casting mekura on each and every on of them. He knew it worked because after staring into their eyes they all looked away as if they no longer noticed him or cared to notice him. Now naruto had to hold back a grin, Damn he was good, if he could do that to a pack of chunnin so easily than he must be doing something right in his ninja training. The genjutsu would last around a full 24 hours, more than enough time to get out as it was midday already and he was escaping today.

But he had to hurry, he had more targets.

* * *

Now naruto was waiting at the gate and just like before the targets arrived.

The targets were a pair of chunnin that went by the names kotetsu and izumo, they would be easy pickings.

And they were, he'll he didn't even need to mix up the routine. Just walk by them, have them look, then gain eye contact and presto, 24 hours of ignored existence. Since they were to be the night gate guards naruto would easily be able to slip by come tonight. Not only did naruto have mekura and his impressive stealth honed through pure instinct, but he also knew that tonight there would be a delivery of goods to various stores in konoha coming through that gate in the ass end of the night during his escape. All in all slipping through the gate was heavily planned out.

The last targets to fall under the mercy of his genjutsu would be the easiest.

His parents.

* * *

Naruto was currently waiting in his room in the middle of the night, it had been a few days since his arm had healed and earlier in the day he had set up precautions, he was ready to put his plan of leaving konoha into action.

He had waited until his so called family was deep in dreamland. As he thought it was so very easy to put his parents under his genjutsu, just a moment of eye contact for each of them during dinner and they were none the wiser. Though he was happy that minato came back today, he had been absent from home for awhile due to hokage work, the reason he was happy was because he needed both parents under the genjutsu. Just like the others it would last a full day before it wore off, by then he would be well beyond the gate and at a distance to were if they sent ninjas out to retrieve him his capture wouldn't simply be an inevitability.

But their was still one problem naruto had to deal with, wether or not he should leave a note or some sign that he ran away. He believed that he should because he wouldn't want konoha to believe that he was kidnapped and go pointing fingers, even worse should violence come about if they should believe that. The last thing naruto wanted was violence to happen because of his choice to leave, he may no longer consider konoha a home nor the namikaze's family and he did not have many happy memories of either after the age of five, but he wished no ill will on them. Naruto simply didn't have it in him to hate, if he did he would without a doubt feel some slivers of that emotion towards his once family and soon to be previous home. But he didn't, he found hate to be a useless emotion he would of course feel anger, but not hate. When he left he simply planned to look at konoha and the namikaze family with a cautious eye, he would avoid both and should their paths ever cross he would simply deal with whatever happens then move on.

But back to the problem at hand. Naruto thought that he should indeed leave a message, partially because of the previously stated reasons and he was still a little angry at his parents. He wanted them to know that he left because of them, because he knew the truth that they had covered up because of their own guilty consciences. Naruto may not believe in hate or revenge but he had nothing against letting people know when they wronged you.

But then their raised a new problem, how was he to leave a message and what should the message be. He could leave a note, it was straight and to the point but he didn't want to sound like a whiney brat cursing his lot in life. What happened happened he understood that and he wasn't going to go around complaining because the past should stay in the past. this was a step for his future that wasn't chosen because of his bad luck, but because he couldn't trust anyone in konoha. But for the life of him he just couldn't think up a proper way to tell everyone he left of his own free will.

"Ugh it's times like these I wish I had natsumi's lack of attention to detail" and like that naruto realized the perfect way to leave a message, it was so good naruto smirked, he never smirked. "Now that will work perfectly."

Then naruto's smirk changed into a soft and kind smile as he looked towards his bed. Sleeping on it was naruto's only friend in the world, the little black kitten Kurohime who had fallen asleep while they waited for the namikaze's to go to sleep. She was also to be his traveling companion and to be honest naruto wouldn't be able to go anywhere without her. after being alone for years and then gaining a friend naruto swore he wouldn't go back to how he was living before, despite Kurohime not being a human naruto found her to be his most precious person because she made the loneliness go away.

Naruto was fully prepared to leave, he had gathered all the supplies and properly dressed for his escape to freedom. He was currently wearing a black zip up hoodie with the hood up to cover dirty blonde hair and a black long sleeved shirt underneath, he also wore a pair of black cargo pants and black shinobi sandals, he was going to sneak out of a ninja village after all he would need dark colors regardless of the precautions he took in his plan. Strapped to his hip were two black kunai pouches, one on the left leg one on the right, both were filled with kunai and shuriken he had gotten a hold of as well as a few seals and sealing equipment. Finally the last item he had was a black bookbag filled with sealing scrolls holding food, ninja tools, camping equipment, money, sealing equipment and books and scrolls that would be used to naruto for further learning ninja skills and advancing his ninja career. The bookbag would also be what Kurohime would be riding in when they travelled.

"Hime-chan wake up its time to go." He whispered as he lightly shook the sleeping kitten. The feline slowly began to awake and after gaining consciousness meowed softly at naruto. "Sorry hime-chan but we need to go, it's time." That was another thing that showed how strong their bond was, naruto could actually understand Kurohime. It wasn't like he could speak cat, it's just he was able to understand the gist of what Kurohime was trying to tell him. The small Cat got up stretched and went to naruto so he could put her in the bag and be on their way.

Naruto slowly snuck out of his room and down the stairs, his once family may have been under the effects of mekura but he wasn't going to take any chances. Instead of just heading for the front door though he went to the dinning room to leave his message. Once he got their he saw what he was looking for. It was the picture he did a few years ago that natsumi took credit for, his parents had decided to frame it adding to naruto's anger at the situation and natsumi's smugness. He had ended up cursing the day he made that picture, but he did softly chuckle at how the painting now would be so usefully.

"Time to get to work." Naruto then pulled out a kunai and an ink brush and with a truly wicked smile on his face he got to work making his message.

* * *

After finishing his little farewell message naruto silently left the house, it was this part of the escape that had his nerves going crazy. He would have to make his way through konoha without being seen. At night their were normally patrols of ninja surveying the village, unlike some other ninja villages konoha had no curfew so people could be found on the streets going about their business at any time. During the day ninja would be naturally all over konoha, gennin squads doing d-rank missions, chunnin doing various tasks, ninja coming in and going out for missions, you would have to be brain dead to think breaking into konoha during the daytime was a good idea. But at night the ninja trafficking throughout konoha slowed, so patrols were put up for security sake. Naruto right now was doing his best not to be spotted by them or anyone else, he had his hood up as well as the improved henge he developed but it never hurt to be careful.

Finally after what seemed like hours, it was actually only half an hour, naruto arrived at the gate. Just like he planned the delivery of supplies for the various stares in konoha's shopping district had arrived. Even better they took up everyone's attention, now all he'd have to do was sleek by and he was home free.

Naruto kept to the wall that was farthest away from the gaurd post for the gate. He used every last bit of natural stealth he had, he also kept to the shadows. After ten minutes of slow movement naruto cleared the gates and made it to the trees outside of konoha he then started making haste. But he was still careful to stay in the shadows, he didn't want to be spotted by a konoha patrol and taken back now that he came this far.

After running for two hours, without using chakra as to not leave a trail or alert anyone, naruto was no longer able to see konoha or even the light the village gave off. Naruto felt weird, it wasn't a physical feeling no it was an emotional one. He had successfully ran away from konoha, he was liberated no longer having to deal with the oppressive lifestyle that he had lived while in those walls. Then he realized the proper term for what he was feeling, freedom, he was free, naruto was free.

No longer would he have to endure it. The looks from the people ranging from disappointment, expectant and pity. No longer would he have to deal with his once family like natsumi making his life a living hell and poisoning him or minato and kushina's many lies and betrayals naruto felt truly liberated truly free.

But their was still one last dealing with konoha he was going to endure, against his better judgement. Naruto was currently heading to otafuki gai a village a little ways away from konoha and on the way to his actual destination. Once he got their he was going to wait their till the end of the week, three days once he arrived. The genjutsu would wear off by midday tomorrow and after that his parents should be able to notice his absence and find his message. That would give them four days to try to find him, since naruto wasn't going to use chakra it will take him over a day to arrive at otofuki gai. This was a final test for the namikaze's that would either make naruto have second thoughts about running away or would remove any last doubts and severe the last of the bonds they shared when they were family. At the end of the week it would rain, making tracking naruto down nearly impossible especially with his ability to travel as a shinobi would. After that he would be on his way to his destination.

If your wondering what naruto's destination is, here's a list of places he wasn't going to go.

He most definitely wasn't going to suna or taki, besides the fact that he didn't know where the latter was and the former was a very harsh environment they were both allies to konoha. Next he would not go to iwa or kumo because they were konoha's enemy despite their so called 'peace treaties' They had. Naruto did not want to end up being imprisoned and tortured because they would think he was a spy, then they most likely would sell him back to konoha, no sir that wasn't for him. As for kiri, well he wasn't ready to walk into a civil war. Maybe in a few years if he gets strong enough he would sign up with the rebels, after all naruto did consider himself a ronin now a wandering ninja and kiri I was a great opportunity for ronin to find work and if they wanted it a residence in a ninja village. For naruto though it would be to gain experience, a valuable ninja trait in naruto's perspective, and fame something all ronin needed. But he wouldn't go unless he was at least mid-chunnin in terms of ninja skill with a few tricks up his sleeve, he wasn't going to give up his newfound freedom just to die foolishly and even if those prerequisites were met he still might not try his luck.

Naruto's destination was somewhere more personnel, but he could think about his destination later once he reached otafuki gai.

* * *

Sadly naruto's final test was destined to fail.

The reason for that was the same reason that had minato missing from home for a good while. The youki disappearance was very troubling, what if it went somewhere else in search of prey? what if it was lying in wait for some unsuspecting victim to stumble upon it? such fearful thoughts caused the konoha council to convene, or a more accurate description was the konoha council had a bitchfest of epic proportions for days before they finally settled on the obvious decision to send out search parties to verify the status of the youki.

Minato was able to come home for one day while the search parties prepared for their mission, sadly he would have to leave the next day early in the morning along with his wife because of the fact she volunteered so the children would be unsupervised. They of course were going to drop them in the care of friends but the fact that the entire family was under the effects of mekura, from naruto's efforts to escape, he was the farthest thing from their minds.

They had entrusted natsumi in the care of the yamanakas but because of mekura they weren't able to even think of naruto to be able to take the same precautions for him. After that they both went to their individual jobs in the youki hunt. Kushina would be among the search parties and minato would be looking through various reports and supervising the effort. By the time mekura wore off they would be to immersed in work for either of them to think of anything but their work, let alone either of their children.

It would be some days before the namikaze family would reunite and by then it would be to late.

the entire namikaze family wouldn't be able to reunite for a number of years.

* * *

Naruto had made it to otafuki gai, he had waited the three days.

Nothing, that was what happened nothing no people sent to search, no word sent out, no reward issued for his return just nothing. Naruto just waited until the rain came, the rain that signified that once again his parents had abandoned him. Naruto was surprised, not because his parents failed him again, no he was surprised because he wasn't surprised. He expected this to happen and now that it happened he wasn't sad or angry, he was just passive.

He looked into the sky and let the rain shower over him and wash away the remnants of his old life, along with the bonds he once shared with his family. He truly didn't care now about konoha or his once family, to him they were just a place and a group of people he had bad memories with.

Then he was broken out of his thoughts by a soft meow and was reminded of his travelling partner and friend. She had taken up residence in his hoodie (like how akamaru rests in kiba's hoodie) to keep warm. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the little kitten as she looked up at him, he affectionately petted her and then spoke.

"Come on hime-chan lets go." He then began walking away but stopped and looked behind him, in the direction of konoha. For but a moment you could see regret in the young boys eyes, before it dissappeared and was replaced by determination. "I'd say it's about time we started this little adventure."

And so naruto left to make his name in the world not to be seen by anyone in konoha for quite some time.

* * *

A week had come and gone and the residents of the village hidden in the leaves had scoured their home looking for the demonic youki, they had found nothing. Every sensor every patrol had reported their findings and they had verified that the youki was indeed gone. This was wonderful new not only were they free of the presence of the dangerous energy but they could also use the land in the dead sectors for their own purposes, life was good for konoha. Even better to the people that took part in the search effort because they could go home, the namikaze family as well could reunite at home after these stressful searches.

Kushina was the first home, her husband had to stay back a little while to finish up some paperwork, she had enjoyed teasing him about that because of minato's hatred of paperwork, and natsumi would be brought home later on. She planned on celebrating having her family together in the only way she knew how, by making a giant pot of ramen for lunch.

A little while later minato came home as well, he looked like he barely got any sleep and he was muttering about 'evil paperwork' something kushina couldn't help but laugh at.

Finally natsumi came home after being delivered by one inoichi yamanaka, he was lucky enough not to be included in the hunt due to his job in the TaI department, he shortly left after natsumi made it to the door.

The ramen was done so kushina called down her family with the magical words 'ramens done'. Though she frowned after coming to the dinner table and only seeing two occupants, naruto May have skipped lunches with the family normally but kushina felt that after a week they should all be together.

"Do either of you know where naruto is?" She inquired.

"I dunno" was natsumi's reply, she never really cared where her brother was and she wouldn't take a moment out of her day to think about him. To her naruto was an annoyance when he took any of their parents attention and he was fun to mess with when she had nothing better to do, that all natsumi thought of him and that's all she will think of him. She especially wasn't going to think about him when ramen was so close either.

Minato though was more thoughtful of where his only son could be, until he realized something. "Um... Kushina do you remember who we left naruto with while we where away on the youki hunt?"

Kushina tried to recall the answer to his quistion but she was just coming up with blanks. "I-I dont remember, who did we... Minato why is natsumi's picture glowing?"

Minato looked towards the object in quistion and sure enough glowing. After they both noticed the abnormally both went into ninja mode, they started by making precautions for their child namely a series of seals that would act as a barrier between her and whatever it was that came from the picture.

Minato then gave her a slip of paper. "Natsumi me and your mother put a barrier around you, what you have in your hand is the key to release it. If anything happens I want you to release the barrier and get help, understand?" Natsumi could only nod fearfully, she was scared by her parents sudden seriousness.

After that both parents went about examining the drawing. From what they could sense from the drawing their was very little chakra in it, that greatly lowered the threat level of whatever it was. If it was an explosive seal it wouldn't even be Able to make a pop, let alone harm anyone.

"Kushina do have any idea what this is? Theirs barely any chakra in it, I highly doubt it's that dangerous." Minato was asking for his wife's input on the situation, he doubted whatever it was that was giving off the glow was dangerous byt he didn't want to act without at least getting a second opinion from kushina.

"No, but we should still keep our gaurd up. Go ahead activate it." Kushina believed the same as her husband, but if they learned anything in their long careers as ninja they learned to always expect the unexpected.

So minato took out a kunai and softly tapped the drawing where the glow originated from. After his kunai left the paper a ripple came out from where it made contact. Then the picture seemingly come to life, the crude drawings of the family changed so that instead of a drawing it now looked like a photo with the detail it held. The family now had a good deal of detail on them enough to see their facial expressions, it even had a background of a blue sky while the family was standing upon green grass. The naruto on the photo looked rather unhappy, a stark contrast to the rest of the namikaze family. The naruto on the drawing looked towards the family, who had scooted closure together, and his frown deepened. He then turned in the opposite direction and left, his left arm however was still clutched in minato's hand and where it once was on his body was just a see through arm as if it was a ghost of his left arm. Once naruto was out of the picture the drawing returned to its previous look of being a crude drawing, the spot that naruto once occupied on it was empty because it had been cut out. But his left arm still remained in the grasp of minato.

"What in the world?" Minato was trying to rap his head around what just happened. Though he was able to see just what caused the glow that alerted them to the picture. It was a seal, a fairly simple one designed to store a simple genjutsu that would play when the seal was activated.

Kushina was also confused about what just happened. "Do you... do you think naruto did this?"

"It's possible, I mean he would be allowed through the security seals. But I doubt he made this seal, it's simple but far beyond anything we taught him." Minato's replied as though he didn't want naruto to be the one that put this up. Because when he thought of naruto being the one that set this up he got a horrible feeling in his gut.

Kushina though wasn't going to leave her original belief that easily. "Minato we do sometimes leave books and scrolls out, it is possible naruto got a hold of some of them and read them."

Minato nodded at his wife's comment knowing what she said to be true. "Yeah we do, but that alone wouldn't... be... enough... oh yeah I forgot I did that."

Kushina was curious as to what her husband was talking about, it was like he just remembered something mid-sentence. "What... what did you do?"

Minato looked at his wife while sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "I may have given naruto permission to enter the shinobi section of the library, and he might've learned how to do this from a few of the books their on how to make seals. Hehehe must've forgot I did that."

Kushina simply sighed "so that's how he did this. Either way we need to find him, and ask him what this means. He ruined natsumi's pictue!"

Natsumi though was getting impatient, she had also removed the barrier once she saw their was no danger, their was ramen and they weren't eating it all because of her stupid brother. "Who cares about nii-san's stupid picture THEIRS RAMEN HERE AND I WANNA EAT IT!"

Kushina wanted to sigh at her daughter's one track mind, until she caught something in her daughter's declaration that just sent her mother instincts haywire. "Natsumi what do you mean nii-san's picture?"

Natsumi realized what she said and paled slightly. "N-nothing MOM, can we just eat now?" She said the last part with a hint of desperation, hoping beyond hope that her mother would let it be.

But kushina was having none of that. So letting a good bit of Steele enter her voice she asked her daughter again. "Natsumi don't lie to me. Now tell me this instant exactly what you meant when you said nii-san's picture!"

Natsumi's will just crumbled at that, who's wouldn't? So she answered her mother's quistion, even though she said it as softly as she could so that even her parents ninja hearing couldn't hear it.

Kushina though was getting fed up with her obviously guilty daughter. "Natsumi answer me, this time louder."

Natsumi's shoulders slumped and she replied in a meek and guilty tone. "Nii-san made that picture. I kinda just filled in the names and borrowed it."

Kushina simply blinked, shocked at the revalation. She remembered that day and naruto's pleas of innocence and his pained and dejected look as they punished him for the crime he didn't commit. "So you lied to us all this time."

Natsumi simply stared at her feet and gave a nod.

Minato who had been watching the exchange with a frown decided it was time to intervene. "Natsumi you know how we don't like to be lied to. I think it would be best if you went up to your room and think about what you've done, also you'll be skipping lunch."

After saying the last part natsumi looked up in horror at the prospect of not getting any ramen. She opened her mouth to protest but before she could utter a single syllable her father cut her off.

"And before you even ask, the answer is no You will not be having any ramen. After all, what sir of punishment would this be if you got ramen?" Minato allowed a bit of Steele to enter his own voice to halt any further complaints.

Minato then just thought of something else. "Natsumi, have their been any other times you've lied to us about something your brother did?"

Natsumi simply poured and gave an answer that was basically a confession. "I'm not telling." How could anyone not take that as a admittance of more wrongdoing. But the parents didn't have time to try to squeeze out anymore confessions from their daughter now, after all they still had to find their son and get some answers. So kushina simply took natsumi up to her room for punishment.

"I'm going to the barrier crew to see if they can help me locate naruto." Minato called to his wife before he disappeared in a flash much like his moniker.

Natsumi just continued pouting as her mother led her to her room and activated the security seals to make sure she stayed. To kushina though, the action of locking her daughter in her room for a punishment felt almost alien. It felt that way because she normally did this with naruto in fact this felt like the first time she's done it to natsumi. Hell she almost had natsumi go into naruto's room out of sheer reflex, when it came to taking one of her children to their room for punishment she was basically used to doing it to naruto. Then she thought of minato's last quistion. What if natsumi did in fact lie before and pinned the blame on naruto, what if she punished naruto for many more things he didn't do.

But she could think about that later, right now she needed to work on finding her son. First she would need to ask naruto's friends, it was then that she realized that she couldn't think of anyone that fit that description. Every time she saw her son he was always alone, he never did anything with anyone and he always acted so solitary. He also never talked about any interaction he had with another person, her daughter would often talk non-stop about what she would do with her numerous friends. No one ever came to see her son no one even mentioned her son he was so elusive, the only places anyone ever saw naruto besides his room was the library, the training ground and occasionally walking around the village and all those times he was seen by himself. Kushina had to wonder, did naruto not have any friends?

* * *

"What do you mean you can't find him?" Minato was currently with the barrier team trying to find his wayward child, unfortunately he was having little progress in actually locating him.

"We're sorry hokage-sama but his chakra signature just isn't turning up." You see the barrier not only worked as an early warning system as well as a defense for the village, but it could also be used to monitor the people inside the barrier. Or it could also be used to find a specific person by searching for their unique chakra signature. That was what to barrier crew were currently trying to do, but sadly they kept turning up a blank in the search of their leaders son.

"Yes I know that but what does that mean exactly? Does it mean he isn't in the village anymore?" Minato was beginning to get concerned, well more concerned, about his son.

"Well... yes actually it could mean that." But upon seeing the look of concern increase on his leaders face he quickly continued. "B-b-but it could also just mean that he's in a place that's shielded from our searching. For instance he could be in a clan compound or the hokage tower or one of the other secure areas in the village." The barrier worker let out a breath he didn't know he was holding when he saw his leader relax.

Minato sighed feeling he had made little progress. "I see thank you for the help. I'll go and search for him in the clan compounds."

"Yes those would be the most likely places he could be. The only other explanation would be if he was dead hahaha.. haha... ha." The man just realized what he said and who he said it in front of. While it was true that It could be a possible explanation, naruto would however have to be dead for around two weeks for the chakra to leave his body so they wouldn't be able to sense him.

But minato didn't know that as evidence of his skin paling and his mouth slightly opening in worry, though he quickly composed himself. 'Relax minato naruto is a smart boy theirs no way he could've gone and gotten himself killed, especially while in the confines of konoha, right? Better be safe and start searching those clan compounds now.'

"H-h-hokage-s-sama I d-didn't mean t-t-to... say... that... and he's gone." The barrier worker tried to cover up the words he said. But his leader disappeared in a yellow flash before he had the chance. Right know the man was worried for his job, and for good reason you do NOT under any circumstances tell a parent that their child might be dead. Just then one of his coworkers came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"If I were you I would enjoy the rest of my time here, because your ass is going to be stuck on D-ranks till your a grandfather." With that the man walked away shaking his head as if he was just talking to a dead man.

"T-that isn't going to happen, right? Yuri? That isn't going to happen right?" He said the last part while looking at another coworker.

"Umm... do you like cats?" He said this as an obvious reference to the bane of ninja's tora. That just made the man pale even more than he already was. Little did he know his fellow co-workers were trying not to bust out laughing at the pour man's misery.

* * *

Meanwhile minato had just reappeared outside the hokage tower. His plans were to along the lines of going to the clan compounds and asking if they had seen him or if they know of his whereabouts. Right now he was just thinking about where he should start.

'Okay so what kid does naruto spend the most time with?' It was then that minato came to the same realization his wife did, he couldn't remember naruto spending any time whatsoever with any children.

The way naruto acted was in fact remarkably similar to how a veteran ninja that had endured a greet deal loss would act. His son spent a majority of his time in isolation, only interacting with his fellow humans when the need arose or they sought him out. Such behaviour commonly occurred in hardened veterans and people who had endured great emotional stress. So why exactly was naruto, a seven year old, going through life so similarly?

He reminded himself that now was not the time to think on his sons psychological situation, no now was the time to find his son. He could worry about naruto's emotional and social state after he actually knew where he was. Since he didn't know who naruto spent time with he would just start randomly on the clan compounds and keep searching till he found him.

* * *

Meanwhile kushina was having her own searching troubles. She had gone looking through the clan compounds with no luck whatsoever, no one had claimed to see naruto or had so much as an inkling as to where he could be. What's worse when she was able to work up the nerve to ask people if they knew anyone who was naruto's friend, because it was a little embarrassing not knowing anyone who was her son's friend, the answer was the same no one knew of any friends of naruto's. She also wasn't having any luck with the person she was currently questioning, the good friend of her daughter ino yamanaka.

"I'm really sorry miss namikaze... but I really don't have any idea where naruto is."

Kushina was doing her best not to breakdown. she had asked everywhere but no one could give her so much as a hint as to where her child was, and she was running out of people to ask. "Could you at least tell me if you have seen anyone, anyone at all who has spent time with him so I could ask them?" She was looking for anything that could tell her where her son was.

Ino though just shook her head in the negative. Her heart went out to the mother, she being a yamanaka was taught at an early age to read people's emotions and thoughts through body language and facial expressions. Right now she was pretty sure she wouldn't even have needed her training to see the emotions kushina was going through, the woman was desperate and scared all the while trying to find her child. Despite her young age she was mature enough to know how worried a mother could get when their child's safety was on the line.

Kushina wanted nothing more than to scream out in frustration, she only just restrained herself from pulling her hair out. "Kami it's like my son doesn't have a single friend." And like that ino went from staring at kushina sympathetically, to staring at her feet in guilt. Something that kushina noticed. "Ino, does naruto have any friends?"

Now ino was in a bind. While she could sympathize with the worried mother she didn't want to get her friends or herself in trouble, because she most assuredly knew that their would be hell to pay if parents were to learn the truth. Not to mention the actions of her and the rest of her peers. In hindsight now she was quite ashamed of the actions she herself had done along with the others, as well as the fact that she had kept silent on the matter of naruto being bullied. Then she felt a pair of hands placed upon her shoulders, so she looked up. The face she saw on kushina nearly made her break down and spill her guts, the mother's face was a visage of desperation and her eyes were practically pleading with the young yamanaka.

"Ino please, if you know anything please tell me." That pleading voice did it, ino yamanaka no longer had the will to keep quiet.

"N-no, he d-doesn't have any friends." She was resigned to answering this quistion, as well as the one that was sure to follow.

Kushina kept her pleading stare. "Ino, do you know why?" And there it was the quistion that's answer would result in punishments all around for her and her friends.

"W-well I kinda know h-how it started." Know she was just stalling the inevitable and she knew it.

"How?" Kushina felt as if she was going to be told a secret that would change everything, and quite frankly she was.

Ino readied herself. "W-well you see started like this..."

And so ino spilled her guts as the worried mother listened. She learned everything. from when it started all the way back to the birthday party, when natsumi forbid the other children from interacting with naruto. She was also told that this 'ban' of interaction with naruto was still up, and natsumi was the one who enforced it. Kushina herself was appalled, that couldn't be her daughter. her daughter was a sweet little ball of friendly energy, not this mean bully of a girl she was hearing about. Now she just had to wonder, had natsumi begun using her brother as a scapegoat for her misdeeds?

* * *

Minato had looked high and low scouring any compound or installation his son could be. He found that none of these places had seen so much as a hair of his son, some even saying his wife had come before him asking the same questions. So he saw that they were having no luck with their current method of searching and decided to meet up with his wife and try a new method. They were currently in the hokage tower with kakashi, since he was a professional tracker he would be of great help finding their child. And they would need a tracker since their searching inside konoha was fruitless they would have to assume naruto had left the village, even though they knew damn well that naruto had indeed already left.

"Soooo... you want me to find your kid?" After hearing the distraught parents out he was a little taken back by how worried they both were, after all its not everyday You see two famous and powerful ninja scared like two concerned parents. "Sure I can do that, after all the kids never left the village so he won't have any experience traveling. It shouldn't be to difficult to find him." Kakashi finished with his patented eye smile and both parents looked relieved at kakashi's proclamation, that is until his next quistion came. "So how long ago was it that he left?"

Both parents regained their worried look as minato answered. "Neither of us have seen anyone not involved in the youki hunt in a week."

Kakashi lost his eye smile and gained a serious look himself. "Wait your saying naruto May have a week's headstart? I could easily find him if he only left maybe a day or two ago, but a whole week? The boy knows how to do the tree climbing exercise as well as water walking which means he can do shinobi travel. He could already be in another country for all we know. Not to mention it rained a few days ago, so there's a good chance that any scent or tracks he left behind was washed away if he left before then." Kakashi didn't want to worry the parents, but they needed to know exactly what was going on. But upon seeing the downcast looks of his sensei and friend he knew he just had to try.

"I'll do my best, but I make no guarantees. I'll get back to you if I find anything."

"Yes please do" kushina was still worried as could be. What mother wouldn't be? Her son could very well be lost to her.

Kakashi simply nodded and left. He hadn't been gone for even a minute before both shinobi felt another presence by the window. Both of course knew who it was, since the only way he ever entered the hokage's office was through the window. "Hey sensei."

"Hey gaki, how ya holding up?" Say what you will about jiraiya but he was a loyal friend, not to mention he was a good person to seek council with despite his goofy personality.

"Not good, me and kushina are at our wits end. We can't seem to get a break at all in finding him." Minato's words were 100% correct. Both parents looked like hell because of how frantic they were in their efforts to find their son, not to mention they had yet to get a proper chance to relieve themselves from the stress of the recent youki hunt.

"I guess that means I need to get to work helping you doesn't it. So where is this message you told me about in your letter?"

Minato handed him the piece of paper that had the seal on it. Jiraiya charted the seal so that he could view it.l, the scene played over just like before. Jiraiya just narrowed his eyes after watching it, he then charged it and viewed it again.

After a few minutes jiraiya was still watching the genjutsu play and pondering the meaning behind it. Kushina was unable to take the silence. "Well what do you think it means?"

Jiraiya simply looked up and then looked at both of them in the eye, he was a little reluctant to tell them his hypothesis because of how it will hurt them. "*sigh* from what I can guess this is meant to be a message to tell you he no longer considers himself a member of the family, and that's probably why he left."

Minato was quite shocked at that news. "W-what, why would he feel that way?"

Jiraiya simply shrugged. "Do I look like the kids psychiatrist? The best I can give you is an educated guess, though I am pretty sure I'm right on this. Look closely at the picture. notice anything happening to his arm?"

Jiraiya then replayed the genjutsu and the parents watched naruto's arm with rapt attention. Sure enough they noticed how naruto's left arm never left minato's grip, even when naruto left.

Jiraiya then continued. "Look after the genjutsu is over notice the part of the picture where naruto was torn of? It's torn so that his left arm is still in minato's hand."

The parents saw where jiraiya was going with this new evidence, and both paled considerably. "You don't think he... "

Jiraiya nodded. " I'm afraid so, somehow naruto learned about what happened to his arm. Someone might of let it slip around naruto, or he overheard one of you talking about it. Unless one of you told him?" The last part was jiraiya basically asking if they had in fact broken the news to their son.

Both parents simply shook their heads, that is until kushina's eyes widened and she clapped her hands in front of her mouth. "Oh no." That exclamation held an unsettling amount of terror in it.

Minato quickly went to his wife to comfort her. "Kushina, honey what's wrong?"

"M-minato remember, over a week ago before I went on patrol we talked about his arm." Kushina was trying to hold in her tears.

Minato paled, oh he remembered all right he remembered everything they said in that conversation. If naruto heard that then..., He didn't even want to think of how naruto felt after overhearing that conversation.

Their fearfully thoughts were interrupted by a number of seals going off, alerting them to something happening back at their house. Or to be more specific natsumi's bedroom. "Somethings happening to natsumi!"

And just like that Kushina, minato and jiraiya were off, no longer were the parents under the emotional turmoil they had been going through throughout this whole ordeal. Now they were as serious as could be as they rushed of to protect their child, they weren't going to risk losing both of their children.

* * *

Natsumi was deeply upset.

No scratch that, so was very much pissed. She did not get punished, she did not get sent to her room and she most certainly did not get deprived of her ramen. That stuff happened to her stupid brother it did not happen to her.

Now you may be thinking how did natsumi, who was raised by two people with impeccable morals and a belief in family values, turn out the way she did. Using her brother like a scapegoat and a tool for her happiness. You see the reason she was this way was the combination of her competitive nature she had, at least when it came to her brother, about gaining attention from her parents. Along with the fact that she didn't think about how her actions effected people, or she didn't care, and since she never got caught before now she never has thought about how her actions hurt her brother because she never answered for any of them. And finally due to a combination of being a jinchuriki and being a doer instead of a thinker she was very instinctual, much like an animal. She did things off of instinct rather than logic, so to her subconscious naruto was competition not a sibling. So their you have it the reason for natsumi's cruel actions towards naruto, and the only way this was going to change was if someone came and forced the hyperactive girl to think long and hard about what she's done to her brother.

Natsumi having enough of angrily stomping around her room while thinking this was her brothers fault, decided to sit down on her bed with a frown while thinking how this was her brothers fault. After a little while of doing that she began to feel a dull stinging sensation go throughout her body. She instinctively got up to go to her brother because of the surge she was going through. Unfortunately for her the door was locked because of her punishment, and even if she were to get out her brother was gone.

The stinging sensation then became a burning one, natsumi was beginning to panic. The pain got worse and worse as time went on, natsumi was now on her hands and knees with tears escaping her eyes and she was letting out grunts and shouts of pain. She then puked up all the contents her stomach until only bile remained, things still got worse. It was like her entire body was being eaten molecule by molecule, only to heal at the some rate it was being destroyed. If you want a better explanation it was like she was being burned alive, without any burns. By know she was on the ground writhing in pain, giving out harsh whimpers and grunts because she lacked the ability to scream while under the mercy of such pain.

Just then the door flew open and three figures entered, she couldn't properly see due to the tears in her eyes.

"Natsumi! What's wrong? What's wrong with her?" That was her mother's voice.

"I don't know, she doesn't have any noticeable wounds or anything on her!" that was her father.

Then she felt someone grab her, she instinctively latched onto that arm and began pouring youki into it to try to ease the pain.

"Argh" the owner of said arm recoiled in pain. Natsumi began whimpering again because of not having any lightning rod to channel the youki into. She then began asking for her brother, her subconscious was screaming at her so loudly to go get her brother that she began localizing it subconsciously.

"I-it hurts, go get naru-nii." The second she began talking she had the adults attention. "He makes it better, naru-nii."

"Natsumi what do you mean? What's happening?" Once again the frantic voice of her mother.

"Get... naru-nii" she the welcomed sweet unconsciousness.

* * *

The three adults in the room were frantically trying to find out what was wrong with the young girl. Well minato and kushina were, jiraiya however was looking at the red landmarks practically branded in his arm. Make no mistake he wasn't looking at the marks in pain, being a sanin as well as a super pervert made him no stranger to pain, no he was looking at them with a calculating look as if trying to figure out a puzzle.

"Minato I think I know what's happening to natsumi" jiraiya's voice wasn't happy in the least.

"Really, what is it?" Minato desperately wanted to help his daughter.

"I think it's a surge." Jiraiya was being completely serious.

"A surge? But that's impossible! Natsumi has been a jinchuriki since she was a baby, she shouldn't even be able to feel them now."

"Listen minato I know youki when I see it, or in this case feel it." He then pointed to the handprints on his arm. "And I'm telling you that was youki she pumped into me. Given how strong the seal is and the fact that this has never happened before I highly doubt the kyuubi is able to muster up enough youki to cause this much pain to someone who's resistant to youki, I also doubt that the kyuubi would actively try to torture it's container. That leaves the option that she is indeed not resistant to youki, and that this is a really bad surge." Jiraiya was doing his best to get his point across because the sooner they diagnosed what was wrong with her the sooner they could deal with it.

With that type of argument minato had to consider the possibility. After looking at jiraiya's burns and natsumi, who was being tended to by a distraught kushina, he couldn't find any way to disprove jiraiya's hypothesis. In fact he was able to remember a few facts that supported it.

"Now that you mention it, natsumi has never shown any signs of pain from a surge even when she was an infant. But how could that be, she would of had to channel the youki from every surge into something else for her to be feeling the surges now."

Jiraiya daughter to correct him. "Something, or someone."

Minato stared at jiraiya, his eyes wide and skin pale at what jiraiya was insinuating. "Y-you think she..."

Jiraiya nodded. "Remember before she passed out 'get naru-nii', I think that answers our question."

Minato just looked horrified. "Kami, have mercy."

Kushina, who was fed up with the two men's private conversation, piped up. "Will one of you please explain to me what your talking about, and what's happening to my daughter?"

Minato decided to break the news to his wife. "Kushina, there's nothing wrong with her. Jiraiya believes.." Jiraiya then sent his student a glare. No way was he getting thrown under the bus, he deals with feminine fury enough because of his habits he didn't need a mother getting posses at him to. Minato got the message. "I mean we believe, that natsumi is going through a surge."

Kushina looked at her husband with a frown. "But natsumi's been a jinchuriki since birth! She shouldn't be able to feel them any more."

Minato really did not want to tell kushina the bad news. "Well we believe this is the first surge that natsumi's ever actually gone through."

"But that surges happen right after the biju settles." With Monsanto being so hesitant to tell the truth kushina didn't understand.

Minato continued. "Well we suspect that natsumi's case is a bit... different." His wife was already going through enough turmoil she didn't need more, but then again it was about her children.

Jiraiya saw his student was struggling with his internal debate, so he decided he'd step in. "Kushina, natsumi tried to pump youki into me when I touched her. Before she fainted she kept on asking for naru-nii because 'he makes it better', because of this we think... " Jiraiya then stopped, he noticed kushina had tears in her eyes. She must have figured it out herself, No need to keep talking.

Indeed, kushina in fact had put two and two together. Even worse she remembered what naruto said every time natsumi crawled into bed with him. '_mom, it hurts...'_ "n-no... she pumped the youki into naruto." It wasn't a question, kushina knew. And she was horrified, tears were flooding from her eyes her skin was deathly pale. She remembered all the times naruto tried to tell her, only for his pleas to result in a scolding or punishment.

Minato to, looked heartbroken. "When you think about it, it's the most logical explanation."

Jiraiya put his ten-cents in as well. "It would also be another motif as to why the kid left." Jiraiya couldn't blame the kid. Not only was he being poisoned, but he also felt betrayed by his parents. Then he thought of something.

"Minato, when was the last time natsumi in naruto's room?"

Minato diligently answered. "The seals say she was in there a little over a week ago."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Damn thats what I thought, apparently kyuubi's getting impatient. A surge only happens once every two months, but natsumi had a surge only a week ago. My guess is kyuubi is speeding up the rate that natsumi undergoes each surge, along with increasing the dosage as well. Naruto wouldn't be able to survive two surges of this magnitude a month, his body would shut down in less than two months. If naruto figured this out along with learning that you kept the truth of his arm a secret, well there you have it."

Minato sighed, they tucked up big time. "In any case we should get natsumi to biwako to make sure nothing bad happens to her."

Jiraiya only agreed with his student, after everything that happened all they could do was help natsumi and hope they could find naruto to make things right. "Yeah let's go."

Minato had similar thoughts. Kushina at the moment however was unable to think on anything other than the overwhelming guilt she felt at the newest revelation. Right now all they could do was help natsumi, and after that do everything they could to find naruto. He had also learned from kushina that naruto had no friends, he was also told of natsumi's part in thing he new for sure, once natsumi was recovered from this surge there would be changes, for both of their children.

* * *

Natsumi groaned, the overwhelming pain she was undergoing a little while ago had greatly lessened. What happened? And where the hell was she?

The room she was in looked like a giant sewer, the water was going up to her ankles. The walls were riddled with cracks and she could barely see seven feet in front of her. She then saw an archway leading into a room or another hall like the one she was. She was actually very afraid, waking up in a dimly lit sewer will do that to you. She walked through the archway to try to find a way out, or someone to help. (Sorry guys, I'm not going to have the mindscape resemble her personality. To much work for to little reason.)

"Hello is their anybody here!" As if to answer her call torches lit upon the side of the walls, illuminating the space she was in. She was in a giant room, she couldn't even see the ceiling, the room had the same exact look as the rest of the sewer. Except of course for a bunch of giant bars on the far wall, they formed what looked to be a giant cage. Though since she couldn't see more than two feet in, this was merely a guess. She being the curious person she was walked up to them, only to jump back in fear as a giant red slitted eye opened up on the other side.

**"well, well, well if it isn't my pathetic little jailer. Finally decided to grace me with your presence?" **the booming voice was smooth and malevolent, certainly enough to enhance natsumi's fear.

"W-w-who a-are y-you" natsumi was practically shaking.

**"Really, can't guess? I guess I was right in my assumption of which sibling acquired the brains" **the voice muttered in a condescending tone.

Natsumi saw a second eye open, she then made a guess as to whom she was speaking to. "K-kyubi?" Her answer was a giant fanged grin. Natsumi never really believed it when people told her she had a giant Fox demon in her gut, she just didn't see how that would work, sure she bragged about it. But she never truly believed, that is until now. She was broken from her thoughts by the dark, booming chuckles of the monster sealed inside her.

**"correct, how did you guess?" **the beast continued speaking in a condescending tone.

Natsumi gained a bit of her bravado back, she didn't like it when people talked down her. "Do you know who your talking to? I'm..." Natsumi was then interrupted by a loud boom. The kyuubi did not take kindly to being talked to in such a manner, especially by someone like natsumi that the Fox viewed as pathetic. So the beast slammed its paw on the ground to silence her. Not only did it do that but it also lit up its cage, thus allowing natsumi to take in the full terrifying view of the kyuubi no yoko. Needless to say she was silenced by that, she was especially silenced the glare the beast was sending her.

**"oh I indeed know who or rather what I'm talking to. You are nothing more than an arrogant, petulant, weak and idiotic little insect. If you deny this I can add liver to the list, though you've already earned that title haven't you. You also have done nothing worthy of notice, I don't know why you view yourself as impressive in any way."** at the beginning of the Fox's speech it was noticeably upset, most likely to tell natsumi that speaking in such a manner in front of it would not be tolerated, then towards the end the kyuubi returned to it's condescending tone.

Not impressive, not impressive! Natsumi would show that Fox, though this time she'd speak with a little more respect. "I stopped a iwa-nin once, he was jonin level and I be-.." the fox interrupted her their.

**"you ran in fear, and then your nearly died. From what I observed you absolutely nothing, as usual.**

natsumi frowned a little. "Okay so maybe I used your genjutsu powers a little, but that still counts."

Kyuubi smiled as if amused. **"genjutsu powers? Who ever said I had genjutsu powers?"**

natsumi didn't want to believe her ears. Of course the fox had genjutsu powers, she used them and bragged about them she just had to have them their was no other explanation. "B-but your a Fox, you know a trickster and stuff. Of course you have genjutsu powers."

The kyuubi darkly chuckled as if amused by natsumi's denial. **"I merely have the appearance of a Fox. We biju are giant constructs of youki. Genjutsu was created by humans and designed for humans, biju have no ability in the art. Why couldn't I be Sealed into your brother, he would of understood such a concept unlike you.**

natsumi was more than willing to answer that question. "Because naru-nii is a boy. Tou-san said sealing something of one gender into something that's a different gender would be bad."

The kyuubi once bargained chuckled darkly. **"you assume much don't you? What makes you think I, or any other biju, have a gender?"**

natsumi simply stared. "Because nibi was sealed into a man, and tou-san said it was a catastrophe!"

Kyuubi scoffed at the pathetic answer. **"you think that simply because we don't have a gender, such an event could never have occured? While we may not have genders we do in fact have personalities. While it's true that our personalities can be viewed as masculine or feminine, we still have no such thing as a gender. The event in which you speak of was most likely caused by a clash of their personalities, matatabi must of viewed her container at the time so despicable that she chose death rather than waiting for him to die naturally."**

Natsumi wasn't really interested in the mechanics of a biju's gender and personality, she just wanted her genjutsu powers. "Of course I was the one who beat that jonin, who else would?"

Kyuubi smiled happy to give an answer. **"why who else but your brother. The same brother who frequently put you under a genjutsu so he wouldn't have to suffer your presence. Not to mention the same brother who is gone, meaning you no longer have anyone to drain my youki into.**

natsumi didn't want to believe. "Of course your a girl, if not why does everyone say your are?"

The kyuubi's smile disappeared. **"do you think I'm omnipotent? How am I to know the manner in which you humans get your information? My assumption would be that someone began a rumor that biju have genders, then later someone began a rumor that I was female and later people chose to believe this as truth. If that is not enough of an explanation for you, than I'm afraid you'll have to ask someone else. (Sorry dude's, but in my fic this kyuubi is the one from canon with just a few twists.)**

natsumi wasn't about to try to force anymore information from the fox on the matter. Right now she wanted to know where the hell she was. "Hey fox, where am I?"

And like that the kyuubi's smile returned. **"Why this is your mind of course, or to better put it a representation."**

natsumi was angered at what the beast was insinuating. "LIAR! Theirs no way this creepy place is my mind."

The kyuubi's smile turned feral.** "but of course it is, I actually find it fitting for you. A dark sewer empty of life falling to ruin and let's not forget the water, It's shallow and dirty just like you.**

natsumi didn't want to think this dark, creepy and desolate place represented her. "I'm not that bad, I'm a good girl."

**"really now? Do you want some proof?"**

natsumi just nodded, she knew she was a good person. Sure she had been naughty, but nothing to warrant this. Right?

Kyuubi began talking.** "despite the state of your mindscape, you do have good in you. I in fact have it right here. **kyuubi then lifted one of its tails. Behind it was a small figure the size of a 3-4 year old, the figure was wearing a raggedy blanket like cloak hiding its features.

"Who's that?" Natsumi was weary of this new presence in her mindscape.

**"Occasionally I have met one of the other biju and conversed with them between their dealings, from those times I've learned a few things about jinchuriki. I learned that normally a jinchuriki will form a dark self, or a representation of their dark feelings that they suppress. From what I've seen being sealed inside you, you do not have one.**

natsumi jumped for joy. "See I told you!"

Kyuubi's smile gained a wicked edge to it. **"you see the reason you don't have a dark half, is because you are the dark half."**

Natsumi blinked, dumbstruck at this news. "W-what."

Kyuubi continued. **"a dark half is born from repressed emotions, and actions you don't do but wish to. How would a dark half form? When you give in to every dark wish every negative emotion, you repress nothing and don't even give it a second thought. Had I not intervened you would have given into the darkness with not a shred of remorse."**

natsumi wanted to call the fox out on its claim, but she couldn't. Now that she thought about it, she never did think of her actions. How much pain did she cause others because of her callous actions. Then she remembered something kyuubi said. "What do you mean intervened?"

**"before we get to that I should explain a few things, namely why your in pain. You see normally a jinchuriki undergoes what is called a surge, it is where I flood your system with youki to build up your resistance so that if you ever need my aid I would be able to provide it. But you seeking to relieve yourself of the pain, pain that would have eventually faded, channeled all the youki into your brother. Because he was not a jinchuriki the youki acted like a poison slowly killing him. Also by doing this I couldn't even give you a one-tailed cloak without having your skin melt off your body, let alone allow you to use any of my powers. Not that you would appreciate them, or I would even allow you to use them.**

natsumi was able to get the gist of what the fox was saying, but one thing stood out that was the mention of powers. "Really I'm gonna get powers, what are they?"

The kyuubi sighed at its containers childishness. **"and of course a majority of what I say goes in one ear and out the other. Fine I'll tell you, not that you'll be able to comprehend the power of such and ability. My power is nothing extravagant, no my powers involve the manipulation and sensing of emotions. That is also how I was able to salvage the good in you.**

natsumi was curious now, why would the evil kyuubi try saving the good in her. "Why? Why would you want to save the good in me?"

**"simple, a wanted to see something interesting. You see I wasn't sealed against my will, no I could of escaped easily, the reason I allowed myself to be sealed was because I was interested. What was it like being sealed? I was bored, along with other... reasons, so I decided to let myself be sealed for the sake of a new interesting experience. But I was unlucky and ended up sealed into you, a pathetic, arrogant little insect like you.**

natsumi was about to yell at the fox for the insults, until a shy, weak voice interrupted her. "Don't deny it, you know that everything kyuubi says is true."

Natsumi looked towards the small figure inside the cage. "W-who are you?"

The figure began walking forward till it was just outside the cage, fifteen feet in front of natsumi. "Who else, I'm you." The figure then removed its hood revealing, a younger natsumi. She looked to be four years old, though much less cared for. Her hair was messy, her skin dirty and she was noticeably skinnier than what she remembered of her four year old self.

Kyuubi just watched. Hoping that natsumi's good half would fix natsumi, so that she could one day be something of interest. Because right know she was boring, kyuubi had dealt with far too many rotten people for her to be anything but.

Meanwhile natsumi's good half continued walking forward towards natsumi. Natsumi though was backing away in instinctual fear, until she tripped. So there she lay as her good half advanced on her, now the good half was standing right in front of the downed natsumi.

"Do you know that our parents know about everything you've done to our brother. The reason he doesn't have friends, that you blamed him for your actions, as well as the fact that you've been poisoning him with youki. They know everything, did you know that you were killing him?

Natsumi just stared in horror as her crimes were listed. "N-no"

"Now you will answer for your actions. It's time you saw the pain you've caused." With that good natsumi hugged natsumi, and then they both disappeared in a flash of light. Now all that was left in the mindscape was a smiling kyubi.

**"well it will take a few weeks for the good half to finish her work. Hopefully after she's done the whelp will be something... more." ** With that the kyuubi went to sleep, waiting for when it's host was finished with the changes she would assuredly be going through.

* * *

**wow dudes that took forever.**

**Sorry I took so long, but this month has been hectic preparing for the holiday.**

**Anyway hope you enjoy. I'll try to update soon.**

**Stay classy dude's.**


	8. chapter 8 friends, powers and adventure

**sup dudes**

**I took a little break after Christmas to enjoy my presents, or to be more specific the video games I got. Sorry I took a two week break and I kept you waiting, but this is it. This is the chapter that shows some of my big changes I'm making to thanathos's story. Now I warn you some of these ideas may seem cliche/nerdy or like I'm overpowering naruto (I know none of us like it when naruto is unbeatable and godlike despite only being a ten year old.), but I will explain everything quickly so you guys don't get ticked off because you think I'm doing something stupid or getting lazy with this story. Please know I read all my reviews, and if you pm me I'll most likely respond, incase you wish to tell me your thoughts on the story or suggest ideas for me to better it. Also while I may be reluctant (since I'm lazy) I would gladly rewrite a chapter if someone insists I should.**

**That's all, enjoy the chapter dudes.**

**I DO NOT OWN NARUTO NEVER HAVE NEVER WILL PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE.**

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**Ch 8: friends, powers and adventure**

currently naruto was walking west towards his destination. It would be a few days before he arrived, but he didn't really mind he had all the time in the world. Now he could of used ninja travel to hasten his arrival to the unknown location (I'm not telling yet), but naruto didn't want to risk running into any ninja from konoha. Sure he may have waited nearly an entire week by otafuki gai, but that didn't mean he wouldn't run into konoha ninja. He was still fairly close to konoha and despite his speed being impressive for his age, he most definetly would not be able to outrun a jonin he most likely wouldn't be able to even outrun a chunin unless they were very slow for their rank. Not to mention ninja coming back from missions, it wouldn't matter if they were sent to find him or not if they saw someone who was displaying ninja skills who was most definitely NOT a konoha ninja they would at least be suspicious.

So here naruto was travelling at a slow pace down a dirt road while lugging a good deal of weight from his supplies, a majority of them may have been sealed in storage scrolls but with how many storage scrolls he had they were still damn heavy. Damn his cautious nature, making him bring so much stuff. Luckily he'd get a break soon since it was almost nighttime, he may be physically fit, but walking all day while carrying all the things he had plus a cat would tire out anyone his age. Said cat was currently asleep in his jacket.

_'wonder how long it will be before I make it to-' _ naruto was then broken from his thoughts by a very distinct sound. To be more precise, it was the sound of something whizzing through the air, a very pointy and deadly something and it was heading right at him. So naruto acted on his ninja training and quickly dodged out of the way of whatever it was that was going to hit him. After he got out of the way he looked back to where he was standing, currently occupying that space was an arrow that would have ended naruto's short life rather quickly by giving his brain a new hole to breath through.

Naruto, despite dodging the arrow, paled at the sight of the pointed projectile. After all they could only mean one of two things. One, someone was out hunting and mistakenly shot at him, this he highly doubted because they would have to be blind, stupid or a combination of the two to mistake him for an animal while he was walking down the middle of the road in broad daylight. That left only one option as to what was happening to him.

He was being attacked by bandits.

Now you might think that this was no difficult task for naruto, what with his ninja skills and training a few bandits would be nothing to him. You would be wrong. You see naruto May have ninja training, he was also very skilled and physically fit for his age, but what naruto didn't have was experience. Experience is crucial when fighting a life or death battle, regardless of wether or not you are stronger than your opponent. You see without proper experience the mere thought that your enemy will kill you is enough to scare the fight out of someone, especially if said someone is a seven year old boy all alone and without the proper mentality to handle those conditions. Commonly people would freeze up in these situations when they faced it the first time, but after that they would get a bit of sense and be able to take action in these types of situations once they got used to the feeling. Sadly for naruto this was his first time being exposed to this situation, so he was being gripped by the fear that his life could very well be extinguished.

Neadless to say, naruto was very unsettled about his current situation.

Naruto quickly turned to where the arrows supposedly came from. Sure enough their was a group of around five large, muscled bandits. What scared him more was that they were looking at him as if he was an animal they were hunting, rather than a young boy they just attempted to murder, showing that they held no qualms with murdering a child for whatever reason they wished to follow.

"Well well well boys, looks like we got a live one on our hands." Naruto could only assume this one was the leader. He was larger than the other four with large muscled arms and a fat frame, to naruto he looked like a cross between a barbarian and a drunk which was fitting since the man looked very unclean. The other four looked fairly nondescript, save for the fact that they all were larger and more muscled than the average civilian. One of the men had a crossbow so he was obviously the one that took the shot at naruto, though he neglected to reload it most likely viewing naruto as just an average kid and not a threat despite the fact that he dodged the arrow. They all had their own weapons, one had a club another had a spear another had a rather unimpressive sword and finally the last of the grunts the one who shot the arrow before had a pair of knives. The leader however had a large singlehanded axe, something he brandished with ease due to his muscles and large frame. The thing they all had in common though was their sinister smirks, as if saying they loved what they did. After sizing naruto up, or to be more precise what naruto had on him since they looked at his bag he had hanging of his shoulder. Apparently they didn't need the promise of large amounts of loot to be willing to kill a young boy, no in their eyes the bag would be motivation enough. They then began talking.

"You've got some skill kid to be able to dodge that arrow, but I think you'll be wishing you let it do its job after we're done. Now why don't you hand over your valuables before we start, wouldn't want them to get stained by your blood now would we?" The man talked as if finding amusement in his own words, while his flunkies just chuckled behind him. They were obviously the type that long ago sold their morals for whatever they could get for them, and enjoyed the pain they brought on others. This only unnerved naruto more, he wasn't the young skilled shinobi in training no he regressed to his natural nature, that of a scared seven year old boy being faced down by five grown men trying to kill him. So he did the only thing he could think of in his not so rational at the moment mind.

He ran.

"Looks like he still has a bit of fight in him, it's been awhile since we got some proper exercise hasn't it. Go get em boys!" And like that the four flunkies began chasing after naruto, while the leader followed at a more sedate pace. After all its highly doubtful that his large frame could keep up with the small boy, at least not as well as his more agile associates could.

* * *

Run, run, RUN!

That's all naruto's mind could think up, well that and 'holy shit they're gonna kill me' or at least something like that. Currently he was doing just that, running away from the band of thugs aiming to kill him for whatever meager pickings they could get off him and the pleasure of watching the life drain from his small violet eyes.

Unfortunately for him his muddled thought process had him abandon his skills, such as his acrobatics, impeccable balance and breathing exercises. Effectively he was being tired out faster than he should be, and he was making his way through the various obstacles the forest offered in a rather sloppy manner. Normally his small agile frame could run circles around those thugs, but with the mistakes he was making the much calmer bandits that knew how to navigate the terrain were slowly catching up.

Luckily naruto was able to gain enough sense to hide in a patch of bushes to catch his breath, and luckily enough the bandits didn't see were he hid. So as the bandits caught up naruto was able to regain his breath, as well as his senses. Finally the bandits arrived in the general vicinity of naruto, the boy hoped against hope that they would continue on through the woods and pass him by in their chase. But sadly these dunderheads were actually skilled in catching their prey, most likely from practice of eliminating witnesses so they wouldn't have ninja sicked on them by any survivors.

"Oi, where'd he go?" One of the thugs asked. They may have lost sight of him when he hid, but they knew they should have regained a visual on the young child by now. Another one answered with a crooked smile, it seemed he was enjoying the thrill of the chase.

"Well boys, seems like this game of tag just turned into a game of hide n' seek. Spread out so we can find our new playmate." The thug spoke in a sinister tone, hoping to scare naruto. After all what type of bandit would he be if he didn't enjoy scaring innocent people?

And that's what they did, luckily they were a few yards away from naruto's hiding spot so it would be a few minutes before they would be able to discover him. Naruto in the meantime had managed to regain some of his rationality from the haze of fear, and given his situation he would need it.

_'calm down naruto, you need to calm down. You need to think of a something or else your screwed.'_ So encouraged by his own little pep-talk Naruto began planning on how to beat these guys, or at the very least escape from them. But given the fact that they were quite fleet of foot for bandits and they were well versed in traversing the terrain, escape would be the less likely and it would only serve to back him into a corner.

First he thought of the advantages he had. He had his genjutsu and ninjutsu, that was a definite advantage. The genjutsu he could use to slow them down and disperse any attempts at working together to fight him, if he used them properly. Ninjutsu he could use for long range fighting and so he could actually damage these guys. He may be physically fit for a seven year old, but that was still not enough to mount a proper hand to hand offensive against full grown men. He didn't even have a weapon, besides a few kunai he managed to get a hold of he was empty handed and kunai weren't gonna cut it in this situation. If he tried fighting hand to hand they would stop him easily, not only did they beat him in size and strength but they were better armed. So ninjutsu would have to do, he may not have had as many as his sister but he had enough. He would have to rely mostly on his genjutsu though, he would need it to keep them separated because he wasn't going to be able to take on more than one thug at a time.

Unknown to naruto, or anyone else for that matter, their was another unaccounted factor in this life or death game. The youki that took up residence inside Naruto's body sensed its host's distress, and so it prepared itself to take action to protect its host and master from harm should the need arise.

Naruto quickly hashed out a plan, a sloppy and hastened plan but still a plan. First he would catch one of the goons in a strong yet simple enough genjutsu, the purpose of this would be to distract him and perhaps stall him so he only had the other three to deal with for a short while. Sadly he would need eye contact to cast it so he would give away his position, but he could use it to his advantage and separate the thug he entrapped in his genjutsu from the others as they chase him. Next he would make a strategic retreat while the thugs were stunned by the surprise of one of them falling under a genjutsu, after that he would again hide and make a shadow clone to help him with the next step. The next step would be him and his clone making handsigns for the _suiton: teppodama jutsu (water style: gunshot), _he would use that to stun two of the remaining three thugs. Then naruto would rush the last thug while his shadow clone knocks out the other two, he would most likely use a genjutsu to help finish the thug. After that he and his clone would overpower the last of the grunts with brute force. And finally he and his clone would work together to take out the leader, who was obviously letting his hired help do the work, then he'd tie them up for some patrolling ninja to take to jail while he continued on his journey. Yep his plan was foolproof.

As long as nothing unexpected happened.

Now all naruto had to do was pick a target to start off his plan, and he just found him. The one with the knives being impatient broke off from the others and was the closest so far to his hiding spot, he was ahead of the other three who were closer together and farther away from naruto. He was currently searching for naruto while clutching his knives as if they were superglue to his hands, no doubt he was itching to use them for his twisted and sadistic want of causing others harm. Sadly for him in this scenario he was a guinea pig for Naruto's genjutsu rather than the predator in this game, and sadly for all the bandits naruto was going to switch the roles in this little game of cat and mouse.

Naruto worked up his nerves and prepared himself for what was to happen, he especially tried to steel himself so that he wouldn't freeze up during combat. He would need to keep his wits about him, if he stayed still for even a moment they might not give him the liberty of running off again.

It was now or never.

Naruto quickly jumped out of his hiding spot in the direction of the closest bandit, said thug quickly tensed in attention at the sound. He then looked towards the direction of the disturbance expecting to see the young boy running away like a bat out of hell, instead he saw a confident naruto with a smile on his face and a look that said 'I'm gonna raise hell'. The smile was for the purpose of trying to bolster naruto's confidence, it also had the added effect of throwing the bandits for a loop since they expected to see a scared child rather than the smiling and defiant kid before them.

"Hiya." Naruto spoke in a cheerful tone hoping to once again bolster his confidence, and it would hopefully tick of the bandits as well. Since naruto's only advantage was his brains against the more physically imposing foes making them forget to use what little brains they actually had, it was one of the oldest strategies in the book make enemies lose rationality and sense of teamwork by angering. Luckily his cheery attitude did piss off the bandits, they really enjoyed it when their victims were scared of them since being deprived of that angered them greatly.

"There you are you little punk, hold still so I can skin you!" This thug apparently didn't like to beat around the Bush, he lunged at naruto in an effort to hasten the fulfillment of his sadistic desires. Unfortunately for him he made eye contact with naruto, thus allowing naruto to subject him to any genjutsu he desired. And he knew just the one.

As the bandit ran towards the young boy to wipe the smile of his face, he felt a light weight deposit itself on his shoulder. The bandit slowed down to see what it was, he came face to face with an abnormally large and scary looking spider. He quickly stopped to try to get the arachnid off of him by brushing his shoulder with his hand, said hand was still holding onto his knife just like his other one.

Sadly for him the second he got the illuminated hitchhiker off of him more began hoping down from the trees and crawling all over him, and as the number of spiders increased so did the panic that the bandit was undergoing. He started screaming and frantically trying to get the insects off him, with little to no success I might add.

"W-what the hell, get these same things of me! Help!" This of course got the attention of the other bandits, who were rather confused at seeing their fellow bandit trying to brush off the non-existent spiders (they couldn't see them because it is a genjutsu) until they noticed their target.

Naruto seeing he got the other bandits attention, and the bandit he had under the genjutsu was occupied, he decided to get moving to start the next phase of his plan. The bandits seeing their prey getting away quickly followed in pursuit of the elusive boy, completely forgetting their illusion plagued companion. After all there was no love between the bandits they were working together simply to fulfill their own desires, you fell behind you get left behind as it were.

Everything was going according to Naruto's plan so far.

But as naruto left out of sight and as the thugs ran by, no one paid attention to what was happening to the frightened bandit. He continued frantically trying to brush off the spiders of course, but he subconsciously kept his grip on his knives like they were a safety blanket as he did so. It would seem like it was only a matter of time till something bad happened.

"G-get them off, h-help! HEL-urk." As the thug tried to brush a spider climbing on his neck the knife he was holding made contact with it, the damage done was fatal. He quickly died while choking on his own blood, the spiders having dissipated due to the physical harm inflicted on him. Naruto's genjutsu had, in an accidental and unintentional way, killed this man, luckily the boy was not at the scene when it happened. The trauma of committing your first kill was something that naruto didn't need right now, like a said before he needed to keep his wits about him.

After all he still had four more to worry about.

* * *

Currently naruto was hiding in another bush with a shadow-clone, they were both slowly making the handsigns for their jutsu while looking out for their targets. The bandits came into view, and naruto along with his clone took aim. They chose to fire their attacks at the bandits that were taking up the rear of the sadistic little search party, after all they were the ones with the spear and sword and naruto would prefer going against the dunderhead with the club.

Two bullets made of compressed water shot out of the bush heading straight for the abdomen of both bandits, their sights quickly zoned in on the sound caused by the disturbance but their reflexes weren't fast enough to even have a hope of dodging. So both were hit and swept off their feet by the force, the thug not hit by the powerful technique quickly looked to see what attacked his fellow highwaymen only to see them on the ground and clutching their chest while moaning in obvious pain.

Naruto and his clone used the last man's distracted state to quickly rush out of the bush, naruto going for the last man standing to rectify his status as such while his clone went to make sure the currently down men stayed that way. The thug however turned around to see two of the blond kid he had been chasing along with his compatriots traveling at a very quick pace towards him, since naruto was now thinking straight he was properly using chakra to enforce his limbs as well as the tree walking exercise to gain better footing so he was much faster than he was before. The shadow-clone diverted its path from the original to go for the others, while naruto's path remained the same to get the stunned bandit with the club out of the fight.

Sadly while the thug was stunned that didn't get rid of his obvious physical prowess, for when naruto got within striking distance he wildly swung the club and hit him. The much smaller boy was flung away and onto the ground stunned and in pain, the thug however regained his confidence and went to finish the job.

Naruto seeing the bandits advance panicked and did the only thing that came to mind, he summoned up his chakra to cast a genjutsu to Hopefully halt the bandits advance. What he didn't know was that the youki sensed its masters distress as well as acknowledged that naruto was also damaged, so it stepped in to aid naruto against the bandits for the sake of self preservation for it and naruto. A part of the youki went to tend to the damage done to naruto another part went to the chakra that naruto gathered for the genjutsu, the youki's mission was the elimination of any and all threats to its host.

Naruto ignorant of what was going on inside his body cast a low level genjutsu designed to basically stun an opponent, it made them see giant Venus fly traps come out of the ground and begin biting them. The genjutsu was cast and it did indeed stop the bandits advance, after all you definitely stop when a pack of large Venus flytraps with jaws big enough to eat a human head pop up around you, though to naruto something felt... wrong. When he executed the technique it felt as though their was something extra was added to the chakra he put in it, almost like the technique was tampered with. But naruto could see no abnormalities in his technique, so what could it be that happened to give him such a strange sensation?

He got his answer when one of the Venus flytraps clamped its jaws down on the now worried bandit's leg, in the genjutsu the plant caused three puncture wounds on the thugs leg. Imagine naruto's surprise when the very same injury appeared on the thug in real life, there they were the same three puncture wounds located on his leg they even began bleeding. Naruto stared in fascination at the wounds, like they were some mythical creature come right out of a storybook. Fascination though soon changed to horror as the rest of the deadly plants began clamping down on whatever piece of flesh they could get a hold of on the now screaming bandit, one of them clamped down on the bandits throat stopping his screaming and most likely sealing his fate. The bandit could only weakly try to escape, like an animal that was already caught tried to defiantly live in the face of its killer only to succumb to darkness in the end.

_'h-how? How is he being physically damaged by a genjutsu? This doesn't make sense, I shouldn't be able to do that. This shouldn't be able to happen.' naruto's thoughts were frantic thinking about how did the event he just witnessed came to be. It was though, in a way, lucky that he was so focused on how his genjutsu did that, otherwise he would have taken notice of how the man was currently dead or dying and it was caused by his genjutsu._

Naruto was so shocked from the brutal display, his clone to who had began paying attention to what was happening after naruto was knocked down, that he missed the other two bandits getting up with furious and murderous snarls on their faces before they charged. The shadow-clone didn't notice till a blade cleaved through its body and dispelled it, naruto gaining the memory feedback was shaken from his shocked mindset and was able to turn to look at them. Unfortunately it was too late, the thugs were to close and he wouldn't be able to stop both of them with a genjutsu and if he stopped one the other would get him. He couldn't escape he could nothing more than watch as the sword and the spear came closer to end him.

The youki in his body however, that was a different story. It wasn't going to give up its new home, and it knew just how to eliminate the current threat to its host.

Suddenly two pointed protrusions came out of naruto's chest they then suddenly shot out towards the thugs, after they shot out you would be able to see what they actually are. They were pitch black chains tipped with six inch long knife blades they also had a few wisps of crimson energy coming off them, if one would describe them they would call them the chains that drag you down to the depths of hell. It was as if the chains were a part of naruto, like they were fused to his very being.

Naruto was frozen as he watched the chains deflect the oncoming weapons, they then changed course and aimed for a vital point on each of the bandits person. The one with the sword was impaled through his solar plexius, and most likely his heart, the other one rammed right through the spear wielding bandits throat. The three stood still unmoving as if time had stooped, the only sound being the wheezing of one of the thugs and the turtles sound of the other as they tried to breath. Then the chains withdrew themselves quickly from the bandits and back into naruto's body, then the thugs now dead or dying bodies dropped like a pair of puppets with their strings cut.

Naruto's face was a mask of horror and shock, after the adrenaline left after the pressure of his need to fight for his self preservation left him he realized something. These men were dead, and he killed them. Naruto may have been still on the outside but on the inside he was thinking a mile a minute.

_'w-what did I do? I d-didn't mean to... how, how the hell did this happen?' _naruto didn't know what to think, he didn't mean to kill anyone only knock them out or incapacitate them. But now all three of them lay dead, he knew that with his choice to become a ninja he would one day, most likely, kill someone. But not like this, he didn't want to kill people in such a way and at such a young age. Sure they may have been bloodthirsty greedy bandits, sadistic to the core as well, but to kill them in such a way just didn't feel right to him, one choking on his own blood another swing with his heart trying in vain to pump blood through his body with a chain shoved through it to keep him alive and the last one to be torn apart by giant plants. It must have been horrifying like something out of a nightmare.

Or something come right out of hell itself.

Naruto was so caught up in his guilty thoughts about his first kill, that he didn't notice the stomping footsteps coming towards him from behind. After all their were five bandits to start with, with four dead that left one very angry bandit leader.

Naruto was broken from his thoughts by the sound of one very angry and hate filled snarl, it was on instinct alone that he was able to dodge to the left to avoid a downward axe swing that cleaved the ground were he once was. Naruto looked to see who his assailant was, he came face to face with a downright furious bandit leader all traces of his previous sadistic smirk was long gone.

"You little punk! You killed all my men. When I'm through with you their won't be enough left to fill a thimble. But your head I'll leave alone, after all I'm gonna mount it on my wall!" The thug then advanced menacingly on the boy, naruto was far to mentally and physically exhausted from the events of the day to put up a fight or even run. Naruto could only back away as the thug advanced to futiley try to prolong his life, he then tripped on a tree root and fell on his back so he was now crawling backwards until he hit his back against a tree. He could only watch as the bringer of his death came, step after step. The thug gained back some of his earlier bravado and had a crooked smirk on his face, he stopped right in front of naruto.

"Well, end of the line kid. You gave it your best shot but it just wasn't good enough, was it. See you in hell." The bandit then swung his axe aiming to end naruto's young life, naruto could only close his eyes and hold his arms up in defense.

But once again something strange and miraculous happened to naruto. His left arm was suddenly engulfed in a crimson energy that went from his finger tips to his shoulder, the energy than lunged out of the arm and halted the axe with what looked like a second hand coming out of it. Naruto then opened his eyes to see why he wasnt dead yet, only for his eyes to widen and a gasp to escape his lips the bandit wasn't doing better only he looked like he was staring down a monster with the amount of fear in his eyes. It looked as though naruto's arm was blanketed in crimson liquid with the way it looked it was quite beautiful, his hand also looked different since the tips of his fingers were now pointed. Their were a few wisps of black in the color but it was mostly red, one could describe the texture as liquid silk with how it looked. ( picture it like naruto's four tailed state in the anime, only a brighter shade of red and less black floating around in the mix. Also he doesn't have white claws like the four tailed state his fingers just end in points.)

"W-what are YOU!" The bandit leader was now very afraid, the demonic feeling he got from the boys arm was practically suffocating. Then the second arm tore the axe from the bandits arm and through it away before it melded back into the energy covering naruto's arm, naruto extended his arm out more in an effort to get it farther away from him after all one would be fearful when their arm turns demonic. Suddenly the tips of his fingers extended like long pointy needles, they then proceeded to impose the bandit leader all over his body. Two in his chest one in his shoulder one through his throat and a final one right through his eye, the bandit gave one last death rattle before the light left his eyes the nails then retracted back into naruto's fingers allowing the man's dead body to fall to the floor.

Naruto quickly crawled further away from the newest corpse, he then looked at his arm fearfully. It felt like the red stuff was trying to spread further on his body, he didn't know how he knew that he just felt it in some way. But he didn't want that, all he knew was that he wanted this stuff to go away. And as if sensing naruto's wishes the red energy began to recead until it disappeared, after all why would the youki's stay it eliminated all threats and its master wished it to disperse, what else could it do but obey?

Naruto was practically hyperventilating after everything he just witnessed all those men dead, and by his hand no less he couldn't he, just couldn't understand how did this happen? Naruto then felt something coming from his throat, he then puked out the contents of his stomach into a nearby bush until their was nothing but bile coming out. Naruto felt a little better after that but he still felt guilty, some might say those men deserved to die others would have said it was self defense. But naruto believed life was sacred regardless of who's it was, it was a principle he took up for one of his dreams of one day bringing peace to the world. But here he was surrender by the dead bodies of men he killed, one couldn't help but feel unnerved and in some way disgusted with himself for causing This. Naruto though knew one other thing, he had to get out of this place he couldn't stay here surrounded by death. Naruto got up and ran hoping to get as far away as he could, hopefully someplace were he could get his thoughts straightened out.

And so naruto ran away from the wooded area and back to the road, leaving behind the dead bodies of the bandits along with his innocence.

* * *

Naruto was panting after running as fast for as long as he did, after everything he went through one would think he wouldn't have enough energy to complete such a feat. Now he was on his hands and knees at an area just off the road, if one were to see this place they would say it would be perfect for setting up camp. As naruto was on his hands and knees he began crying, the guilt of killing those men coming forth full and completely. That was all he could do cry and try to cope with what happened, he then heard a rustling come from his bag but was to caught up in his guilt to pay it any mind.

Out of the bag popped out the head of Kurohime, she had kept quite during the entire bandit debacle due to an inability to help. But know that things had calmed down she had come out to see the condition of her closest friend, needless to say she was worried after seeing naruto's tear stained face. The kitten quickly got out of the bag to comfort the boy in any way she could, she rubbed against him and nuzzled her head into his torso but nothing seemed to work. She then got in front of naruto and began meowing to try to get the distraught boys attention, luckily it worked as naruto began to break out of his crying daze.

Naruto looked up from the ground and stared into the practically glowing emerald eyes of his one and only friend, the kitten looked back at him with a look of worry.

"H-hime chan." Naruto's voice was weak with fatigue and emotional turmoil. He then slowly reached forward and held the kitten in a gentle yet firm embrace, and then he yet again began crying over the loss of his innocence. Though deep down he had a glimmer of happiness in his heart, just knowing he wasn't alone, that he had the kitten in his arms with him as a companion made things much more bearable. He just cried silently while holding his little traveling companion in a gentle hug, all the while he was thinking happily that he wasn't alone in this ordeal and as long as he had his friend he no longer would be alone.

Finally the last of his tears came out and he sat up from his hunched over state, he also placed the little kitten back down on her own feet. Naruto then smiled and put on a brave face while looking at his companion, after all it would not do for him to lose his nerve so early in his adventure in the outside world. He then closed his eyes to hide his red and puffy eyes, and then spoke.

"Thanks hime-chan for being here for me, I don't know what I'd do without you." He spoke these words from the heart, after all he didn't know how he would cope if he were alone. Then something unexpected happened.

Someone answered back.

"Its ok naru-kun." The voice was feminine of that their was no doubt, the voice was also very close from what he could tell. Naruto was on alert, because he should not run into anyone out here. In fact naruto was planning on avoiding people entirely until he reached his destination, the only people he's even seen were the bandits and people travelling down the road like him but he made sure to avoid those people as well. The fewer witnesses to his presence the better, he may be able to disguise himself near flawlessly but he didn't want to take any chances. The fact their was another person out here unnerved him, the fact that they knew his name as well frightened him. Could it be that someone from konoha found him?

"W-who's there, show yourself." Naruto tried to hide the worry in his voice, but with how fatigued he was and the fact that he couldn't put up a fight made it difficult. Naruto stood and began looking around for the other person, he was unable to locate them which unnerved him more. If this person could hide from him they may very well be a ninja, and with how close he was to konoha it would be a leaf shinobi.

_'damn, this is bad, if this is a konoha shinobi I doubt I'll even be able to put up a fight'_ naruto continued looking around trying to find just where the person who spoke was. "Where are you."

"I'm right here silly." Naruto stood still, that voice came from right behind him. He slowly turned, but when he fully turned around no one was there. He just stared dumbstruck, he was about to ask again until the voice spoke up again.

"Down here naru-kun." Naruto did as told while very confused, he looked down only to see Kurohime staring at him with her big green eyes. This seemed to only increase his confusion, until.

"Here I am naru-kun." Kurohime,the cat, was the one that said this, and she waved her paw at him during so their was little doubt that it was the kitten that spoke. Naruto paled, not out of fear of the kitten but more likely out of fear for his sanity.

_'did that bandit knock something loose, or did my kitten just speak. No! That is just crazy, you had a long day your just out of it." _and so naruto regained his composer, believing he was just imagining things. So he put on a smile and pretended that he didn't here what he just heard.

"Hehehe, you know hime-chan I just had the weirdest daydream, I thought you actually talked to me." Naruto fully believed his words, after all a cat talking the idea was just preposterous. He thought that until Kurohime gave what could be considered a pout and spoke again.

"Hmph, meanie. I did talk naru-kun, why are you saying I didn't." Once again he heard it, that childish and girly tone that was his best friends, the cats, voice. Naruto's eyes simply widened and his jaw opened wide, the fact that his feline friend did talk to him sent him into a state of shock. Kurohime though saw his face a bit humorous and began giggling, in a human voice that was helping naruto's belief of falling prey to insanity.

"*giggle* hahaha naru-kun your making a funny face." She then noticed that naruto was as still as a statue. "Naru-kun are you alright?" Naruto's answer was to have his eyes roll up into the back of his head and pass out. Now Kurohime was worried.

"Naru-kun! Are you okay?! Speak to me, naru-kun!" She began bouncing around and pawing at the prone boy, after she found out he was just unconscious though she calmed down.

"*sigh* naru-kun, what am I gonna do with you." She spoke in a chiding tone, as if naruto overreacted to the discovery of a talking cat.

Guess it was just one of those days for naruto.

* * *

Kushina entered her home, mentally and physically exhausted from everything that happened since the youki hunt. Not to mention she was also spiritually crushed, who wouldn't be after everything she found out. When did things go so horribly wrong? Was it when naruto learned the true status of his arm? Was it before that when naruto was first crippled during the incident brought about by their neglect? Or did it happen before that even, when his sister first began channeling youki's into him and was basically killing him.

She then went to a cupboard in the kitchen and got out around three bottles of sake, she then went into the living room placed the sake down then collapsed onto the couch were she then proceeded to uncork the first bottle. She would most definitely need some alcohol in her system with what she was going to be thinking about, she then poured some of it into a little saucer like glass that sake was usually served in and left it until she needed it, which would be soon.

Kushina felt a flood of emotions going through her mind, sadness of course but also anger. Anger at herself as well as any other people she could possibly blame for the events that had recently figured, it was funny she felt like crying and punching a hole through the wall at the same time.

And to think, just yesterday when she returned from the youki hunt she believed that the damaged bonds of her family was slowly growing back after the disaster that happened on her children's birthday. She wondered if this could possibly be some form of divine punishment, like she did some great injustice in this life or a past one that she was now paying for. Say what you will about her but one thing kushina namikaze did not have was an easy life, when she was a young child she had to leave her home and family to come to konoha for the sake of their alliance. Later that event would save her life when kumo, iwa and Kirk decided to wipe out the threat of her birthplace and clan, all her family and friends perished and she could only grieve.

That wasn't the only noticeable black mark in her childhood, at konoha she was an outcast due to her looks and the fact that she was a foreigner. But after a lot of work she was able to gain friends, and after an event involving kumo kidnapping her, for her special chakra or hopes of recreating the uzumaki clan in kumo she didn't know, she was able to gain someone special in her life in the form of her love minato.

Things started looking up for her, that is until the war broke out and no matter who you are war would leave a bad mark on you. Many friends died she had to kill many people, something she still has nightmares about on occasion along with her husband, and she also had to deal with the constant worry that she, Her friends or the man she loved may die. Luckily neither of them met their end during the war, obviously, and after the war minato was chosen to be the fourth hokage. Needless to say they were both overjoyed, though they did make many changes to their life. For instance kushina decided to take a more lax standing in her shinobi career by taking less life threatening missions and fewer missions altogether, she may have been a high A-class to low S-class shinobi but after the war she had her fill of death regardless of the purpose. Also she didn't want to risk anything getting in the way of her greatest wish, to be a mother.

Then one day it happened she went to the doctor and they told her that she was indeed pregnant, she was so happy that she couldn't wipe the smile of her face as she walked home trapped in her own little world all the while rubbing her stomach. Minato was the same once he was told the news, you couldn't wipe the smile off his face even if the apocalypse were to suddenly happen.

So for nine months the parents were practically bundles of excitement, they could hardly wait till their children were born and they could hold them. But then the day she went into labor a catastrophe befell their home, the nine-tails attacked them out of nowhere. More friends had died, and for a while she believed her husband had died as well. But he had survived he had made it through and they could be a family, it was like her dreams were coming true.

She then laughed sardonically. "And then things just went to hell... again." Natsumi had managed to worm her way into everyone's heart as their little darling, which was not surprising seeing as her personality was much liked hers coupled with Minato's charisma how could she not be popular. But what no one had realized was that as she cemented herself in people's hearts, she was taking the parts that belonged to her shy and soft spoken brother. Things just escalated from there and soon they lost sight of their son in favor of his sister, the result was naruto's crippling caused because the boys parents forgot him on his birthday.

But after that they had seen the error in their ways, sadly it seemed that their efforts were to little to late. They were giving naruto the attention they should have always given him, only after what they did he no longer wanted it.

Kushina looked back at her previously poured saucer of alcohol, after she began thinking of the more depressing factors in her failures it began looking more and more friendly. She took the glass and swallowed it in a single gulp, hopefully the alcohol will aid her in dealing with the thoughts that had yet to come.

Now where was she thoughts? Oh yes, nature's crippling. After naruto was crippled they just continued to find out how much they failed at being proper parents to naruto, how? Simple, they just made one mistake after another.

Kushina sighed. "And what do we do? We only worry about how the truth would effected us instead of naruto." It was true, it was the single worst decision they could have made. Fearing what naruto's reaction would be to the truth of how his arm was permanently crippled, they had withheld information from him that was his to know. Next they excluded him from ninja training because of his crippling, but to naruto who didn't know that it was indeed permanent he saw his exclusion in training as another instance of his family pushing him to the side and making him an outcast.

Then because of his feelings towards that as well as the crippling he purposefully distanced himself from the family spending as little time as he had to at home, and once again they failed to do what they should have and let him. "Give him time he needs some time alone." Kushina said this as if it was utter stupidity, and in hindsight it was. "We should have been there for him to show he wasn't alone, if we had he might not have..." Kushina couldn't finish her sentence, instead opting to take another glass of sake.

To tell the truth, after everything that she had learned she felt that naruto's wish to runaway was completely justified. Her and Minato's failings in being proper parents to him was reason enough for why naruto would want to leave, but that was nothing compared to what they had learned from earlier today. They had first learned it from ino they were however unable to properly quistion her due to finding naruto took precedence, however after they learned that naruto was no longer in the village and they had sent out people to look for him they had come back to basically interrogate the young girl with the aid of her father. After they got the full story from her and had all their questions answered inoichi had used one of his family techniques to gain a better picture by looking through her memories, after he was finished the first words out of his mouth were the parameters of ino's punishment. The young girl could only look down in shame, after retelling what had happened she understood the consequences the actions and inactions of her and her peers had for the young boy. One thing the yamanaka did not approve of because of their understanding of the psychological, was bullying.

After that inoichi told the parents exactly what he had found out from his daughters memories, both Minato and kushina were appalled at the cruelty their son had undergone. Kushina in fact broke down in tears, she didn't want to believe that her son had undergone what he had and that it was started by her daughter no less. Due to a childish dispute natsumi had torn a permanent rift between naruto and his peers, and despite attempts at reconciliation by naruto it remained as such.

Naruto not only was abandoned by his family, but because of Natsumi's actions he had no friends to speak of. Kushina knew that feeling from her own childhood and to be honest it was the worst feeling a young child could endure, the pain of absolute loneliness. From reports they were able to acquire from people that wished to aid them in their search for their son gave information that said naruto's only interaction with any other sentient being was with a little black kitten people had sometimes spotted him with, unable to gain companionship in his fellow humans naruto was forced to seek it from animals, if that didn't make kushina depressed then nothing would.

It was only now that naruto was gone that kushina had to face the harsh truth, when it came to her son she barely knew anything about him. Kushina then looked up into a mirror, what looked back at her was a woman who was truly and utterly defeated. "What kind of mother am I? When it comes to natsumi a could practically write a book on everything I know about her. But naruto... nothing, I know absolutely nothing about my own son. Sochi *sob* I'm so sorry I was such a failure as a mother to you *sob*." Kushina knew so much about her daughter, her likes, dislikes, fears, dreams but with naruto the only things she could say with certainty was that he liked reading and wanted to be a ninja.

But all their faults naruto was beginning to become a part of the family again. He would contribute to conversations, smile occasionally, if only slightly, and he started spending more time at home rather than at the library or roaming konoha. But yet again they managed to screw it up due to their own failure to be proper parents for naruto, and as a result naruto learned of his crippling in the worst possible way.

Kushina knew without a doubt what naruto viewed the revelation as, it was a sign that his efforts to become a part of the family again were in vain. They had betrayed him time and again, even a saint would give up trying to reconcile at that point. So in effect all the effort put into trying to mend the broken bounds brought about by naruto's incident was effectively thrown in the gutter, and for naruto it was the final straw.

Minato knew it as well, speaking of which he was probably still out there explaining the extent of what happened to naruto to the other parents. She had left after they had explained the truth of naruto's relationship with the other children, needless to say the parents were shocked, angered and appalled when they learned the truth. It really was yet another blow to their pride as parents, practically every child they knew of as well as their own daughter had used naruto as a scapegoat and target for ridicule. Naruto who had gained an unsavory reputation as a troublemaker and prankster was completely innocent, he was in fact used as a scapegoat by natsumi as well as every other child in the village had used him he never committed so much as a single prank in his life. Minato and kushina were practically disgusted remembering all the times they punished naruto, who's please of innocence were always disregarded due to the claims of several other children, natsumi often among them, that he was the culprit.

Quite a few parents were angered at the news that they had wrongfully judged an innocent boy, all the while their own children were doing wrong and framing naruto for it. Most assuredly their would be a lot of punishments being handed out to children. And without a doubt news would soon spread that naruto was not the nefarious prankster that so many knew him as, but in fact a lonely innocent little boy that was being bullied and framed by all of his fellow children.

On another note, kushina remembered having to do one of the most nerve wracking missions since the war.

Telling biwako how bad they screwed up.

After the incident with natsumi were she underwent a surge for the first time and they found out the truth of how she channeled the youki into her brother, another sob wracked her frame at that, they realized that someone would have to tell biwako. Since kushina had a previously made appointment, one that she ironically enough was planning to blow off to spend time with her family, she decided to step up to the chopping block.

_-flashback-_

kushina fidgeted constantly as she sat on the chair in the examination room, biwako had already taken her blood sample and done a few other tests and was just analyzing them. Kushina was trying to think of some way to start breaking the news to biwako, but it seemed the old medic was able to see that something was eating at her.

"Kushina, I know that there's something wrong. The fact that you won't stop fidgeting is proof enough of that. So tell me what has you so unnerved, does it involve naruto?" Biwako's eyes narrowed slightly at saying naruto, she had taken a greater interest in the boy ever since he was crippled as a small precaution to make sure the parents didn't screw up like they did again.

Kushina flinched at the mention of her missing son finding it harder and harder to hold in her despair from what had happened, something that biwako noticed. "What's wrong? Is he giving you the cold shoulder after you told him about his arm?" Kushina once again flinched, now she was looking down at the ground trying in vain to hold back her emotions something biwako narrowed her eyes at.

"You did tell him, didn't you?"

That did it, kushina broke into a wail of remorse. Biwako was a little taken back at seeing the strong kunoichi and mother break down before her, she quickly moved to comfort the woman.

"Kushina please, calm down. It's ok, I'll help you tell him the truth." Biwako May have been royally pissed at the namikaze parents for the neglect they showed their son and the consequences it had, but she didn't plan on emotionally breaking the woman when she guilt tripped them, she just wanted to make sure they never neglected their child again and began giving him proper attention.

Kushina could only shake her head at of biwako's assumption of why she was crying, if only it was just that. She began speaking, though it was difficult with her voice racked with sobs. "I-it's not that *sob* it's *sob* naruto, h-he's, he's gone!" Biwako stared at the sobbing woman, trying to find out exactly what she meant by gone.

"Gone what do you mean gone?"

"H-he ran a-away, he heard me and minato t-talking about his a-arm and now h-he's gone." Kushina was an absolute mess, she was lucky that she was otherwise biwako would have her by her neck now that she was told the truth. Though she still wanted some answers.

"How long has he been gone?"

Kushina let out another sob before she answered. "W-we don know, we've been occupied with the youki hunt so it could be anywhere from today and Monday." She felt particularly ashamed of that, for all she knew her son could very well be in another country by now.

Biwako was angry at that extra little tidbit of knowledge. "Between today and Monday, how the hell did this happen! Did you have anyone, anyone at all look after naruto? I know for a fact natsumi was at the yamanaka's while you were away." She knew this because she was called over to the compound for a house visit for a patient, and just so happened to see natsumi there.

Kushina could only cry and look down in shame. "No. I don't know how, we were thinking of little but naruto for weeks but when Monday came it was like he was just erased from our thoughts."

What no one knew was that had been because they were under the effects of naruto's genjutsu, and since they didn't know biwako could only assume that naruto's family had once again found a way to forget about him. Biwako was just able to stop herself from physically taking her anger out on the weaping mother, but that wouldn't stop her from verbally taking it out on her. "Kushina as much as I would like to console you, I simply can't. Everything happening right now is yours and your husbands fault, that's the cold hard truth."

Kushina was hurt by biwako's words, but she steeled her resolve their was more she had to tell biwako. And she didn't want to have to deal with the wrath biwako would have if she found out she kept the whole truth from her, she was scared enough as it was. "T-that isn't all."

Biwako simply narrowed her eyes at the claim. "Really, what else went wrong I thought we already checked everything off. Seems I was mistaken." Biwako's tone was sarcastic and angry, but with what she was being told she had a good excuse for being pissed.

Kushina began speaking again. "You know naruto's reputation?"

Biwako nodded. "A troublemaker with a penchant for pranks, not uncommon in neglected children seeking attention."

Kushina winced under the not so subtle barb, but nevertheless continued. "The truth is he's not."

Biwako simply raised her eyebrow as a way of seating 'elaborate'. Kushina allowed a bit of anger to enter her voice now. "Nearly every child in konoha has been using my son as a scapegoat, even his own sister! He's never done so much as a single prank, and we punished him for all of them. I-I'm a failure of a mother! I didn't notice how my son was suffering, I punish him for things he didn't do. Natsumi poisons him with youki's for years, and every time he tried to tell me I scolded and punished him. And now I've just found out the truth when he's already gone!"

Biwako said nothing, there was nothing to say. She simply pushed kushina out of the room and told her in a monotone that she would give her the test results later.

_-flashback end-_

kushina poured out the last of the alcohol in the third bottle of sake into the glass saucer, she had finished the rest of it off during her flashback. She then reached for the glass to finish of the last of the alcoholic beverage, before a hand firmly grasped her arm to stop her from doing so. She looked to the owner of the appendage, only to see biwako with the same stern frown she always had. Man she must be waisted, she didn't notice biwako enter the house till she was right their.

"Kushina, I think that's enough." Biwako's tone was stern but held a undertone of gentleness, she most likely saw the broken woman that kushina saw when she looked in the mirror and didn't want to send her deeper into despair than she already was.

"Isht nut neary enuff." Kushina was indeed waisted, her words came out in barely understandable slurs.

Biwako simply sighed in exasperation. "Well as your doctor I'm telling you it is, and I'm also forbidding you from alcohol and fish for a the next eight to ten months."

Kushina gave biwako a 'what?' stare, wondering about a certain part of biwako's orders. "Visch, why the ell visch?"

Biwako gave another sigh before she answered, she really didn't like dealing with people when they were drunk. "It could hurt the baby."

Kushina's drunken stupor was seemingly bitch-slapped out of her by those words, her eyes were wide as she stared at biwako. "B-baby."

Biwako simply nodded her head. "Congratulations kushina, your three weeks pregnant."

Kushina could do nothing but stare dumbfounded, until she fainted. Biwako sighed and took the pregnant mother upstairs to her room and left her so she could get some rest, she then waited downstairs for the woman's husband to arrive. She may be royally pissed at the woman for what happened, but she wasn't going to leave a pregnant woman that recently experienced a great deal of heartache by herself. She then sighed again, she had been doing that a lot lately.

_'here's hoping things are going better on your side, naruto.'_

* * *

Naruto awoke with a groan. _'Ugh man, what happened? The last thing I remember was fighting those bandits, and then… hime-chan talked. Wait! Where is hime-chan, better quistion is where am I right now.'_

naruto looked around to try to ascertain what sort of situation he was in right now what he could tell straight away it was currently nighttime. He was also able to tell he was in a sleeping bag, and upon further inspection he realized it was his sleeping bag. He also noticed that the spare sleeping bag he had was right next to his, he then heard the sound of crackling like wood burning in a fire. He turned and sure enough their was a decent sized fire a few feet away, but one thing naruto noticed more was that there was a person tending to the fire or more specifically two fish that were skewered by some sticks that were cooking by the fire. Naruto was put on alert by that, naruto had become wary of other people because of his social situation in konoha making him a bit of an outcast. He was even more cautious of people after leaving konoha, the paranoia of getting caught and brought back to konoha made him avoid all humans ever since he left regardless of who they were.

Naruto Sat up, but apparently the person had heard him and turned to look at him. Naruto was able to get a good look now at what the person looked like, he was not expecting what he saw. It was a girl, and she looked to be his age. She had black hair with a slight wave to it that traveled down to her shoulder, she also had two pointed protrusions of hair that went up diagonally on top of her head as well as her left bang being braided. Her face was very cute, in fact naruto was very happy it was dark otherwise she might see the light tinge of pink on his cheeks. She had a beautiful pale skin tone and a round face, though undoubtedly when she grew up and lost her baby fat said face would be enough to turn heads wherever she went. She also had large beautiful eyes, they practically sparkled like emeralds with their green coloring. Naruto noted that those eyes were fairly familiar, odd he'd never seen this girl before and he was sure he'd remember her if he did. What he also noticed was her smiling lips or the be more precise the teeth that peeked out from underneath her top lip, they were pointed like an animals but instead of finding them intimidating naruto found that they only added to how cute this girl was. He also noticed her attire, she wore a fairly large, at least to her bodies size, black hoodie, naruto noticed that it was tighter around the torso and looser at the sleeves that encompassed her entire arms. The sleeves went a few inches past her fingertips, and the torso portion was tight enough to give a few hints to her body shape it was also long enough to go to the halfway mark on her thighs. On her legs she wore a pair of black shorts that just made it to her knees, for shoes she wore a similar pair to his own footwear black close toed ninja sandals (think regular ninja sandals only they cover the toes.).

Naruto was broken out of his observation of the girl when she began talking. "NARU-KUN! Your up!" She then rushed towards him, that made naruto remember he didn't know who this girl was and she could be a threat. So he quickly backed up to keep some distance, this also stopped the girls advance as she now stared in confusion as to why naruto seemed so tense.

"W-who are you? What do you want, and where is my cat and my things?!" The girl looked a bit depressed at naruto's outburst, great he didn't mean to upset the girl she looked harmless enough he was just being cautious.

"Y-you dont remember me, n-naru-kun?" The girl looked like she was about to cry, her eyes were even starting to get watery. Naruto was starting to panic now, 'remember' that meant naruto met this girl before. But where, where had he met her before? Wait a second her voice, it sounded familiar. And her eyes were familiar as well, but where had he seen those eyes and heard that voice? Then suddenly it clicked, could she be... no it couldn't be... could it?

"H-hime-chan?" And like that the girls expression changed to a wide and happy smile showing off her pointy canines, she then leapt at the boy in a flying hug. (I believe they're called glomps)

"YAY! Naru-kun does remember me!" Naruto was just dumbfounded, this was Kurohime? The little kitten he saved those few months ago and bandaged up and fed? This girl was the kitten that had become his closest friend and most precious person in the world, how that bloody hell did this make sense?! Naruto then began trying to calm down the happy girl so he could hopefully get some answers.

"Hime-chan, what happened to you?" The girl just tilted her head in confusion.

"What do you mean what happened to me naru-kun?" Naruto sighed.

"Hime-chan, when we met you were a cat. And now your a normal girl" Kurohime just looked more confused at that.

"A normal girl? OH! That's right I still got the true henge up." Now naruto was confused, what did she mean 'true henge'. Then Kurohime made a ram handseal, next the two pointy protrusions in her hair became actual cat ears and a tail came out from underneath the bottom of her hoodie. Now naruto wasn't confused he was dumbfounded.

"H-hime-chan what is that, you have cat ears and a tail!" Kurohime just smiled at him.

"Of course I do silly, I'm a ninneko." She spoke like that would answer all his questions, naruto just sighed at that this conversation wasn't going anywhere.

"Hime-chan I don't know what a ninneko is. Perhaps you could give me an explanation and tell me more about you." Naruto was really lost right now and he needed some info on what was going on, luckily Kurohime was all to happy to oblige.

"Sure naru-kun, ok let's see where to start first. Oh, I got it! You see ninneko are ninja cats, we live in a castle just a little southeast from here. Auntie shiro also said that we don't really owe allegiance to any country or village other than our own home, she also said that our home is a lot like a ninja village we just live day by day and help our home." Kurohime answered with a happy tone that naruto was beginning to associate with her, though he did find the information was helpful. Apparently his friend was a part of a cat version of a hidden village, and she was one of these ninneko or ninja cats that populated it. Due to his knowledge that their were ninja dogs, the fact that their were ninja cats was not that shocking neither was the fact that they were very intelligent and had made some sort of home for themselves. Oh who was he kidding, his life was so full of crazy twists and turns that he was just used to it now. Kurohime then began talking again so naruto focused on her again.

"And then theirs me. I was raised in the castle ever since I was a baby by my papa and auntie shiro, oh yeah I forgot my papa is the leader of the ninneko. Anyway I lived there and papa would always tell me about adventures he would go on when he was younger, so one day I decided to leave so I could go and have my own adventures after that I met you and you know the rest." Naruto nodded taking the information in, so her father was the leader of her home that would in a way make her a princess. Then one day she left and... wait what!

"Wait hime-chan your saying you just left your home." Kurohime just nodded. "And your father and aunt let you?" He could literally see the gears moving in her head, then her eyes widened and her mouth opened. Apparently his best friend was a little… ditzy.

"OH NO! Papa and auntie shiro are going to be so worried, what am I going to do?" Kurohime was obviously worried about what was going to happen, so naruto set out to console her.

"Hime-chan don't worry, we could go see them. You said that your home was only a little ways southeast from here right, it won't take long for us to get there. Everythings going to be alright." Kurohime the looked up from her sleeves, which she had been crying into, at naruto.

"Really? You promise?" Naruto smiled happy to see he was helping his friend.

"Yeah I promise." And like that she was happy again, so happy that she tackled naruto and hugged him.

"Thank you naru-kun, thank you thank you thank you."

Naruto just smiled and hugged his friend. Maybe this was why he was so accepting of this new twist in his life, because Kurohime was his friend. No matter if she was a cat, a girl or a cat girl ninneko hybrid she was his friend, and he would rather die than lose his friend.

"Ok hime, now if we're going to be travelling tomorrow we'll need to get some sleep and *sniff* do you smell something burning?" Kurohime's eyes widened at that and she let out a small gasp.

"*gasp* my fish!" She quickly rushed over to the fire in order to retrieve the now burnt fish. She looked disappointed at seeing their dinner ruined.

"Awww I was looking forward to some fish." Naruto then took one of the sticks and took a bite out of the burnt food.

"Mmm it still tastes good." Naruto gave a reassuring smile to the girl, soon she was smiling as well. So they ate while talking to each other and laughing, naruto could honestly not remember the last time he was so happy. After that though they were getting ready to go to sleep in the sleeping bags, then naruto thought of something he wanted to ask simply out of curiosity.

"Hey hime-chan you said your dad was the leader of your home right? What's his name?" Kurohime let out a cute yawn before answering.

"My papa's name is nekomata." Naruto pondered the name, he definitely never heard of him before.

"Goodnight hime-chan."

"Goodnight naru-kun."

Then the two young children fell asleep.

* * *

It was currently the middle of the night in the children's campsite and all was well, well except for one tossing and turning naruto who was obviously having a nightmare.

Naruto suddenly awoke and jolted up with a start, his nightmare was basically the memory of what happened between him and the bandits.

_'what was that, that power I used. How was I able to make my illusions real, or make those chains come out of my body? And what was that red... energy... that covered my arm?' _as much as naruto wanted answers, they would not come. He truly wanted to know what was going on with his body, and how exactly he came to have those powers. He sighed he just knew no answers would come if he simply wished for them.

_'man it's like one surprise after the other in this crazy life of mine.' _naruto then felt someone nudge him, he turned and sure enough it was Kurohime trying to get as close to his warmth as she could. At that naruto smiled.

_'at least not all of these surprises were bad'_ naruto then resolved to find his answers in the morning and go back to sleep.

Though he did wonder, what surprises did the world have for him tomorrow.

* * *

**that's right dude's, naruto's travelling partner is a catgirl. Please don't be angry.**

**But yeah, as you can see now is where we start seeing the real changes story has. For Kurohime if you have any questions about her I want you to know I'm going to elaborate on her origins in later chapters as well as naruto's powers.**

**On a side note I'm thinking of maybe making another story here on . the reason being I'm getting a little bored just writing out chapters for this story and I want to monotony, not because I want to abandon this fic I plan to complete this story. But I am a little skeptical if another story will make me more enthusiastic about writing, or if I would just make more work for myself so it's still just a possibility.**

**But until next time.**

**Stay classy dude's.**


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